Torihito's Nuzlocke Challenge: Platinum
by torihito
Summary: Bored with the way pokemon has become, Nick looks for a new challenge and finds it when he's dragged into the game. Now, in order to get home he needs to complete the ominous Nuzlocke challenge! Rated T for character death, violence, swearing and some adult themes
1. Chapter 1

**So a bit of back-story before I get right into this. I competed my first Nuzlocke challenge a year ago. I was inspired by the comics of other runs all over deviantart and decided that I was going to make a comic out of my run. Well, let's just say that the comic got away from me and I never felt motivated to sit down and draw anything. So, I've decided that I'm just going to write it. For those of you who don't know, a Nuzlocke challenge is basically "Pokemon: Hard Mode". The rules for my run will be explained later in the story (it'll make sense, trust me). So, I proudly present, Torihito's Nuzlocke Challenge: Platinum. Enjoy!**

**Chapter 1: The Challenge**

It all started on a day that was just like any other. Nothing that happened was out of the ordinary, no warning signs of the things to come. But I'm getting ahead of myself. My name is Nick. I'm your typical gamer kid. Tall, skinny, glasses, the whole nine yards. The sun was just starting to set on my suburban neighborhood and I was upstairs in my room, doing what a typical nerd would be doing at the time. Playing video-games, in this case, Pokemon.

I had played the Pokemon series most of my life, ever since I got a game-boy and Yellow version way back on my 5th birthday. And sure, you might think it's weird for an 18 year old to be playing Pokemon, but it was still fun. At least, it was something to do.

At the time, I was playing Diamond version, since I couldn't afford the new Black and White version. I remember it perfectly...

The room was quiet except for the music of the game coming from the Nintendo DS. I lay on my bed, occasionally glancing around my messy room, trying my best not to be bored and failing miserably. _This sucks. _I thought. _Wish I had my Xbox, then I could play something entertaining._ I focused my attention back on the screen, noticing that my opponent had sent out a Gyarados against my Pikachu.

"Too easy." I groaned, selecting Thunderbolt and glancing around the room again. My boredom was taking it's toll and I finally decided to go see what the family was doing. I hopped off of my bed and casually tossed the DS over my shoulder. "There's just no _challenge_ in it anymore." I complained to no one in particular. Little did I know the impact those words would have on my life.

"So, you're looking for a challenge huh?" a voice said behind me. It was smooth and human, but had an electronic buzz to it, like someone speaking through a radio. I whirled around, eyes darting across the room, searching for the source of the voice. That's when I noticed my DS screen still on, showing not the game, but a white screen. In the center of the screen was a weird symbol, kind of like a radish. It was a large black circle with three smaller ovals coming off the top of it like the leaves.

"What the hell?" I said, slowly walking towards my bed, eyes never leaving the glowing screen of the DS.

"What are you, deaf or something?" the DS said. "Are. You. Looking. For. A. Challenge." it said, drawing out each word as if talking to a child. The screen pulsed at each word, leaving no doubt in my mind that the voice was coming for it.

"Well, yeah, but I never thought I'd get one from my DS." I said, kneeling now so I was face to face (face to screen?) with the gaming device.

"What are you- oh. The game." the voice said. "Look kid, I'm not your game. I'm using it as a way to speak to you. And what I'm here to do is offer you the chance to take my challenge. It'll be a tough road and there's no real reward to speak of. Just bragging rights and the chance to do something fun and exciting. That's what you wanted, right?" The DS went quiet, but I felt like it was looking at my, reading my reaction and waiting patiently for my reply.

I thought for a moment. "Well it wouldn't be much of a challenge if there wasn't risk involved. I'm in." I said, grinning.

The screen was silent for the longest time. I almost thought that I had somehow offended the being talking to me and it had left. Then the voice returned. "Well said." it spoke simply.

The light of the screen grew brighter, flooding my room and overpowering the light from my ceiling fan. I shielded my eyes from the onslaught, getting to my feet and taking a few steps back. Through the shield of my hands, I saw the bottom screen go black.

"Welcome to the Nuzlocke Challenge." the voice said.

Suddenly, the black in the bottom screen spilled over the edge. It flowed like mist across my bed, spinning around and around making a spiral pattern. Purple mixed into the center and a hole appeared. The whole effect was similar to pictures of a black hole I'd seen back in high school science class.

Without warning, large hands made of the same misty black stuff shot out of the hole and latched themselves onto my arms. I cried out in alarm and tried to wrench myself free but they wouldn't give. The arms lifted me up into the air and moved me above the portal, which grew wider and wider. I slowly realized what was going to happen. "Oh no." I said. "No! No no no no nonononononono- FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-" I shouted as I was dragged headfirst into the portal. As my feet cleared the rim, it snapped shut. The screen dimmed and the emblem flickered off, revealing my pokemon game. "Pika?" the game said.

I fell through the air, or at least, what _felt_ like air. I wasn't taking anything for granted anymore after being dragged through a smoky portal that sprung out of my DS. _Maybe the boredom has gotten to me and I've gone crazy?_ I thought. Looking down, I noticed the ground coming towards me. _Really_ coming towards me. "Oh shit!" I screamed, holding my arms over my face hoping to muster up some kind of defense. That's when I felt myself slowing down. Eventually, I stopped, floating a few feet above the ground. "Huh." I said, lowering my arms. "That wasn't so-" I said before gravity remembered I was there and brought me crashing to the floor. "Oof. Argh! That sucks." I groaned, rubbing my bruised chest as I got to my feet.

After making sure I was okay other than a few bumps, I looked around, deciding to figure out where I was now. _Well, this certainly isn't my bedroom. _I thought. _Or my neighborhood. Or Kansas._ The floor I was standing on was as smooth and hard as concrete. Lines stretched across it in a grid, going as far as my eyes could see in every direction. The whole world seemed flat, which was really disorienting. The "sky" was even worse. Curved lines spread across it and floating among them were groups of ones and zeroes.

"Okay, so where the hell is this?" I said aloud, still staring at the numbers flickering across the sky.

"Isn't it obvious? This is the game. Or at least, the programming." the voice from earlier said. This time there was no radio buzz and I could tell it was male and right behind me. I turned and looked at the new arrival. He (at least I think it was a he judging from the voice) wore a red and gold cloak that covered his entire body. The hood was drawn up and cast his face in shadow. The clasp for the cloak had the same weird onion mark on it. The figure spread it's arms.

"Welcome to the Game World." it said with an exaggerated voice that managed to sound excited and bored at the same time. "This is where the challenge begins. I'm gonna explain the rules to you and then send you on your way. Any questions so far?" he said, leaning forward, arms crossed and head turned as if offering me his ear.

"Uh, yeah, I've got one." I said, voice rising a bit. "Couldn't you have warned me before dragging me in here? And what the fuck are my parents going to think if they look for me and I'm not in the house anymore? Got an alibi for that?" I was yelling at this point, already frustrated with the way this "challenge" was going.

The robed man sighed, lowering his head. "They always ask the same things, might as well put it in the intro." he muttered. He looked back in my direction. "One, that was the only was to get you here. Two, if you don't like it, I can send you back the way you came. Three, time is no issue. Take as long as you want on the challenge, you'll go back to your world the same time you left it. Like Narnia." he said. Clearly he had already given this speech before and was tired of it by this point. I relaxed a little.

"Alright. So no matter how long this challenge takes, I'll be back home in time for dinner tonight?" I asked. When he nodded I grinned in return. "Then let's do it. Tell me the rules."

The cloaked man waved a hand in an exaggerated sweep and a blackboard appeared in a puff of smoke. He walked up to it and started working with the chalk, writing and drawing all across it. I couldn't see past his movements to what was being drawn, but I did notice with a bit of amusement that he'd added a graduation cap to his cloak outfit. _Guy's a bit of a smart-ass_ I thought to myself.

He put the chalk down and turned away from the board, revealing what he had written. _The Nuzlocke Challenge!_ Was written across the top in big letters. "As you can see, this is the Nuzlocke Challenge. I'm Nuzlocke, by the way." he said, gesturing to the board and himself. "There are three major rules, each with their own sub-rules and the goal is simple." He gestured at the board, seemingly encouraging me to read it myself.

I shrugged and stepped closer, eyes darting across the green board as I read the thin lettering.

_Rule 1: You can only catch the first pokemon you find in a new area_

_ 1-1: In the event you run into a pokemon you already have first, a mulligan is allowed. If you do this twice, you forfeit your pokemon for this area._

_ 1-2: The exception to this rule is for shiny pokemon. The rarity of these are such that you probably won't find one anyway._

_Rule 2: You cannot decline any battle that is offered to you. You must fight no matter what condition your team is in and how prepared you are._

_Rule 3: THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT RULE! Your pokemon DO NOT FAINT! If their HP reaches zero, they DIE! That's it. Kaput. DEAD. Seriously, do not forget this._

_The first goal of the Nuzlocke Challenge is to collect all 8 badges of the region and challenge the Elite Four. This does NOT mean that you have to defeat the Elite Four and Champion, so if you loose there it counts as a victory._

I frowned as I finished reading the rules. "Okay, so how are these rules enforced? What, do you pop up and shoot a fainted pokemon in the head or...? And what do you mean 'first goal'? What's the second?" I shot a questioning look at Nuzlocke.

In response, he flipped the blackboard around and revealed a whole new block of text on the back. _I don't remember him writing that_ I thought. _Still, he does appear to be omnipotent. Best not to question it. _I read the new text on the blackboard.

_The second goal of the Nuzlocke Challenge is to gather five artifacts and bring them to Mt Silver in Johto. You will need the Silph Scope from Kanto, The Rainbow Wing from Johto, the Red Orb and Blue Orb from Hoen, and the Griseous Orb from Sinnoh. _There were drawings of each of the items with arrows pointing from their names.

_Once you arrive at the summit of Mt Silver, use the Silph Scope to find the Alter. Place the objects in their correct locations and the portal home will open!_

I nodded once I finished reading. "Still didn't answer the first question. Why do my pokemon die? And for that matter, how can you tell if I'm catching one pokemon or not?"

"I'll answer that question with a question." Nuzlocke said. "Which is your dominant hand?"

The question threw me off, confusing the hell out of me. "Uh, my right?" I said. "What's that got to do with-" Nuzlocke shot forward and grabbed my right hand, interrupting me. I felt a slight burning sensation on it before he let it go. Looking down, I saw that there was now a black mark on the back of it matching the symbol on his cloak and the DS screen. "What the hell is this?" I asked, looking it over.

"_That_ is the Mark of Nuzlocke." he said with an air of satisfaction. "_That's_ how I'll be monitoring you. It's a direct link between me in this world, and you in the pokemon world. You're pokeballs will all have it too, and any pokemon you capture will have it put on them as well." I couldn't see it, but I was sure there was a smirk on his face.

I glanced over my hand one more time before letting it fall. "I'd argue that that made _no _scientific sense, but I was dragged through a portal to another dimension not to long ago so my views on what's possible have changed a bit." I said.

"Yeah, about that, try not to tell anyone that you're a Nuzlocker. Or that you're from another dimension. People know about the first but not about the second so it's probably for the best." Nuzlocke said, suddenly very serious.

I stared at him for a long moment before nodding. "Okay, yeah, I can get why that would be important." I said. _Wonder why mentioning the challenge is bad if they already know about it _I thought to myself. "Anything else before I start this thing?"

The cloaked figure shook his head. "Nope. Have a nice trip." He gestured and I felt a familiar tight grip on my upper arms. Glancing down, I saw the shadowy arms grabbing me again.

"Oh man, not again!" I cried as I was dragged into the portal, off to start my adventure.

**Hope you guys like it, and just to let you know now, yes, I will be doing a Nuzlocke fic for each of the four games. This one is just for my Platinum run though, I'll be making new fics for the other three. As for whether or not I'll do a run in more recent games like Black and White or X and Y, we'll have to wait and see. Also, I since this story is going to be a long one and I already have the plot hammered out, I'll be updating it twice a week, maybe more. So, check often, I don't know if I'll get a regular patter going other than just twice a week. As always, please rate and review, and I'll see you later this week. Peace =P**


	2. Chapter 2

** Alright, so some quick info. I'm aging the characters up a bit from 10 to around 16ish. I just, I feel weird writing about an 18 year old running around and battling a bunch of pre-teens. Seems really mean and creepy to me. So, Barry and Dawn get a free aging, no extra fees. Enjoy!**

**Chapter 2: Misadventures**

I don't remember anything going through the portal a second time. I guess it was a different kind of portal since no one mentioned any reports of teenagers falling from the sky. I remember waking up though. I mean, who could forget a wake up like _that._

My head was swimming, slowly coming back to consciousness. There was a buzzing sound, one that started out soft and quickly escalated to annoying. No matter how hard I tried to fight it, the noise got louder and louder. And slowly, to my horror, I started to pick out words. _Oh my god, that's somebodies _**_voice_** I thought.

"-never thought in a million years that I'd find somebody lying in the middle of the route like this, were you attacked by a pokemon? No, that can't be right, pokemon only live in the tall grass, we're still _way_ to close to town for that to happen, which means I still don't know how you got here and – hey are you waking up?" the voice said. I groaned, knowing that now that he's noticed I'm awake I'm gonna have to talk to this guy.

I opened my eyes and immediately closed them. _SUN! Sun is bad!_ I thought, eyes tearing up from looking directly into the golden globe in the sky. _Well, at least I know it's daytime._ Pushing myself up, I blinked quickly until my eyes refocused, drawing my attention to the dirt path I was sitting in. Looking ahead, the path led down to a forest farther down the hill I was on.

"You are awake!" I suddenly remembered that I wasn't alone and looked to see who was chatting with an unconscious person instead of getting help. What I saw made my jaw drop.

"B-Barry!?" I asked, staring straight into the amber eyes of the rival from Pokemon Diamond. _Wow, I'm actually in the game world_ I thought. _Let's see, blonde hair spiked into weird horns, check. Orange and white striped shirt, check. Green tie, check. Obnoxious personality, check and check._

The blonde seemed as surprised as I was to my reaction. "You know who I am?" he said slowly. "That's amazing! I mean, I know I'm going to be the greatest trainer of all time, but to have people outside of Twinleaf that know me, wow!" he exclaimed, gushing about his new "fame". I breathed a sigh of relief. _Good thing he's not to bright, otherwise I'd already be in deep._

I decided to roll with the way things were going. "Uh, yeah! I'm from Sandgem Town and I came over because someone mentioned that you were the best trainer in town." I said. "Guess I didn't make it through the route in one piece." I mumbled, playing up the sheepish role.

He took to it like a fish on a line. "That's awesome! I mean, not the you getting attacked part, the you hearing about me part! Well, you already know my name. What's yours?" he said, getting to his feet and offering his hand. I remembered I was sitting in the dirt and gladly took it, standing up myself. I was surprised to find that he was only a little shorter than me. Being 6 feet myself, I had thought he would be a lot shorter than he was.

"I'm Nick." I said, shaking his hand quickly before letting it fall. I looked around and saw a bunch of buildings behind Barry on the horizon. _Must be Twinleaf Town_ I thought. "Sooooo, what are you doing out here Barry? I didn't expect to see you 'til I was in town." I asked. I was genuinely curious. The game was already going off the rails with the story. _I mean, it's not like Barry's programed to say these things._

"Oh right!" Barry practically shouted, all his energy back again in an instant. "I saw this awesome TV show about a red Gyarados in Johto's Lake of Rage and I thought 'I wonder if Lake Verity has something cool like that in it?' and I ran out of the house to go see and I found you on the road here!" he said, mouth running a mile a minute. It was difficult to keep track of what he was saying, but I had played through the games enough times to get the idea of it.

"That's a great idea!" I said. "I heard a rumor that there's a legendary pokemon there!" Of course, I already knew about Mesprit, but I didn't want to ruin the fun for him. "Let's check it out!" _Anything to get this tutorial over with, I already know how to play the games_ I thought.

We set out down the path towards the forest. It probably didn't take to long for us to get there, but Barry never stopped talking the entire way and the minutes seemed to drag on and on. Finally, we arrived at a T in the road. A sign pointed both ways, telling us that the lake was left, and Sandgem town was right.

"Oh!" Barry said suddenly. I paused, already leading the way left. "I just realized! We can't capture the legendary pokemon without our own pokemon!" The look on his face showed that he genuinely just thought of this.

I sighed. "Well, how are we gonna get pokemon? It's not like they're lying around." I asked, fed up with the whole thing.

"Easy!" Barry replied, pointing towards Sandgem Town. "We'll go get some from Prof. Rowan. He just came back from a trip and I'm sure he'll give us some starter pokemon!" He was already halfway down the path before I grabbed him by the back of his collar.

"Hold on man, we can't go that way." I said. Barry gave me a questioning look. I sighed again (which was quickly becoming a common occurrence) and pointed to the tall grass ahead. "Wild pokemon. Bad for people without pokemon." I said slowly, making sure he understood.

Barry nodded and I let go, his brow furrowing in deep thought. After a few moments, he snapped his fingers. "I've got it!" he shouted. "If we run _really_ fast, the wild pokemon can't get us!" My jaw practically dropped again. _He can't be serious?_ I thought, but the thought wasn't even finished before Barry was heading full sprint for the tall grass. I chased after him, if only to stop him from getting himself killed.

"STOP!" a deep voice thundered through the forest. Barry stopped immediately, inches from the grass. My reflexes were a little slower and I crashed into him, both of us tumbling to the ground. As we untangled ourselves, a shadow passed over us. I looked up to see an older gentleman, with spiky gray hair and a thick mustache. _Prof. Rowan!_ I thought.

"Just what do you two think you're doing?" Rowan asked. His voice was calm and gruff, but the air of authority was evident. Even though I knew he wasn't real, I still felt ashamed and looked down at my shoes.

"Sorry sir. We just wanted our pokemon." Barry said, his voice unusually quiet and timid for him. I glanced over and saw that he was also looking down at his shoes.

We stood in silence for a while, the only real noise being Rowan grunting and murmuring to himself. I caught occasional snipits of it but nothing really evident. Something about "...responsibility..." and "...boys there age..." Finally, he nodded. "Very well then. I shall give you your pokemon now."

Our heads snapped up, the both of us with excited looks in our eyes. I couldn't help it. I always got this feeling when getting a pokemon.

Rowan turned around, looking over his shoulder. "Dawn, be a dear and-" he stopped mid-sentence. I looked around him and saw that there was no one there. "Oh dear, where could she have gone?" Rowan asked no one in particular.

"Prof. Rowan!" a call came. We looked farther down the path and saw a pink blob moving towards us. As she got closer, the blob morphed into a teenage girl, wearing a pink coat and a white beanie. _Dawn_ I thought to myself. I noticed the briefcase she was carrying.

"You forgot your briefcase at the lake Professor!" Dawn said as she caught up, holding the object in question up briefly. "What would you have done if I hadn't noticed?" Dawn asked, trying to look sternly at the older man.

Rowan merely ruffled his mustache a bit. "I thank you Dawn for retrieving it. Now, these young boys wish to receive their pokemon. Kindly open the case for them." Rowan said, gesturing to the two of us. I guess Dawn hadn't noticed us standing there because she jumped a little when she looked over.

"Oh!" she squeaked. "I'm sorry! Let me introduce myself. My name's Dawn Platinum." she said, bowing slightly. "And you are...?" She looked from me to Barry and back again.

"I'm Nick." I said simply. "This is...Barry." I said, trying not to laugh at the expression on Barry's face when I glanced at him. _He's totally staring at her!_ I thought. He looked like he had just fallen in love, just blatantly staring at Dawn with his mouth hanging open. I decided to throw him a bone. "Uh, hello? Earth to Barry?" I said, lightly punching him on the shoulder.

That seemed to snap him out of it. "Wha-who-wha?" he said, looking around wildly. Dawn giggled as I just smiled, shaking my head. "You're a real charmer man." I said, patting him on the back.

Dawn giggled again, before grabbing the suitcase more securely. "So, you two wanted pokemon, right?" she asked, opening the metal case and holding it in front of us. "We only have three here, one of each. If you'd like to have the same one, we can escort you back to the lab in Sandgem."

I glanced over at Barry who was staring at the pokeballs with the same expression he gave Dawn. "uh, I think we're okay." I said, looking at the balls myself. _I know exactly who I want for this so-called challenge _I thought, reaching out and grabbing the ball on the left. Barry shook his head again, snapping out of his trance and snatched up the middle ball.

"Congratulations on your choice." Rowan said. "Why don't you let the little critters out, get to know them." he suggested, taking a few steps back. Dawn hastily closed the briefcase and joined him, giving Barry and I plenty of room.

"Alright, go Chimchar!" Barry roared, throwing the ball high in the sky. I almost lost sight of it when it popped open, a beam of red light spilling down to the ground. The light condensed and formed the rough shape of a monkey before disappearing, leaving behind the Chimchar. He was roughly a foot tall, orange fur all over except for his chest, face and limbs. A ball of fire flickered on his backside instead of a tail, and the fur on top of his head moved around in the rough shape of a flame as well, the beginnings of an Infernapes flaming hair.

"Cooooool!" Barry said, catching the falling pokeball effortlessly and crouching down to ogle his new companion. The Chimchar yawned and stretched, looking around. He caught a glimpse of Barry over his shoulder and jumped away, clearly frightened by the blonde being so close. He watched Barry for a moment, a look of curiosity on his face. He looked over at Rowan who gave him a nod. That seemed to mean something to Chimchar because suddenly he ran over to Barry, climbing up to sit on the teens shoulder and pulling lightly at his hair.

"Hahaha! Ow!" Barry winced as Chimchar yanked a little to hard. "I like him!" Barry declared, grabbing the little monkey and hugging him tight. Barry looked up at me. "Why don't you let yours out too Nick?" he asked, the monkey moving back to his shoulder and nodding next to him.

I couldn't help but chuckle at the sight. "Alright, I'm interested to meet him too." I said. My heart started pounding. _I get to see a pokemon for real! Like, up close! This is so freaking cool!_ I tossed my ball lightly into the air, in stark contrast to Barry's epic throw. "Come on out Turtwig!" I called.

A flash of red later and a large turtle was standing on the path. His skin was light green and he had a brown shell. A small plant was growing out of his head, which had two leaves. Unlike Chimchar, Turtwig had an immediate reaction to being out of his ball. He looked around in all directions, as if expecting some kind of predator to swoop down on him. Catching sight of Rowan. The Turtwig ran towards him. It stopped in front of him and chirped, beaming up at the old man. Rowan knelt down and scratched the grass-types head, whispering something to it. Turtwig tilted his head to the side, apparently confused. Rowan picked him up and spun him around, pointing towards me. Turtwig looked at me, squeaked, and ran behind Rowan.

Barry burst into laughter. "Aw, the little guy's scared." Dawn said, kneeling down next to Rowan, who had an amused look on his face. "This Turtwig is a little shy." she said to me before moving her hand out to try and coax him forward. "Come on little one, Nick won't hurt you."

I decided to try and adopt her tactics. Kneeling down a few steps away from them, I held out my own hand. "Hey little guy." I said softly. "C'mere. I'm not gonna bite. I just want to be your friend."

Something about the way I talked seemed to convince Turtwig I wasn't a threat. He slowly walked around Rowan's legs and came towards me. I kept my hand out and stayed still. The turtle took a few more steps, and sniffed my hand. Apparently finding it acceptable, he rubbed against it.

"Well done boy." Rowan said, getting to his feet. "That Turtwig will be fine in your care."

It was quiet for a while after that, until Barry broke the silence.

"Hey Nick, how about a battle?"

I looked up, currently on my back and playing with Turtwig. Barry was standing a short ways away from me, Chimchar in front. The fire-type looked ready to go, the fire on his tail billowing. I looked back at Turtwig, the upside down view giving the turtle a curious appearance. "What do you think, ready to go?" I asked. I knew I couldn't refuse the challenge, but I wanted to make sure Turtwig was okay.

In response, the grass-type ran around me, facing the monkey and nodding his head, a fierce look in his eyes. I grinned and climbed to my feet, adopting a wide stance like Barry.

"What happened to that scaredy-cat from before? Nevermind, I like this version of Turtwig better." Barry said, a devilish grin on his face. "Let's get it started!"

The battle wasn't as fierce as I thought it would be. Then again, I shouldn't have expected much from two brand new starter pokemon. Barry ordered Chimchar to use Leer, while I told Turtwig to use Tackle. Chimchar countered the blow with a Scratch attack. It was back and forth for a while, Barry switching between offense and defense while I urged Turtwig to keep the offense up. I knew the turtles natural defense would keep him in the game longer than Chimchar, despite the Leers. In the end, I was right, and Turtwig stood before an unconscious Chimchar, head raised in triumph.

"Excellent job, the both of you." Rowan said. I grinned and returned Turtwig to his pokeball. Barry did the same, whispering encouragement to his fallen friend. "Now, it's getting a bit late so you two should head on home." The professor started down the path towards Sandgem, not even stopping at the tall grass. "Oh, and please come by my Lab tomorrow. I'll finish your trainer registration there." he said. Dawn quickly followed him, saying goodbye as she left.

Barry grinned at me. "You may have won the first round, but I'm still the greatest trainer in Sinnoh! Don't forget that Nick! I'll beat you next time!" he said. The tone of his voice was good-natured, like someone on the best sports team after loosing a close game.

I smiled back. "I'll remember that." I said, turning towards Twinleaf. "Mind if I crash at your place? Turtwig's to tired to get me back home." In reality, I didn't have a place to sleep, so I figured I'd ask.

"Sure no problem!" Barry said cheerfully and we set off back to Twinleaf. As we walked, I wondered about the situation I found myself. _In the game I played, we didn't get the starter pokemon until we reached Lake Verity. But here, we got them on Route 201. On top of that, Barry wanted a battle right off the bat. I wonder what _else_ is different._

** Alright, quick explaining time. Nick the character played up to Pokemon Diamond. In his universe, the third game of the series and the remakes, never came out. Thus, he has no idea about the changes in Platinum version, or the changes in the other games I'll be playing. Figured it would stop him from being a Mary Sue when it came to game knowledge. As always, please remember to rate and review and I'll see you later. Peace =P**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: A New Perspective

I remember going to sleep on that first night. I remember how calm I was. I knew I was in a different world, and unfamiliar place, but the warmth of the blanket over me and the atmosphere the house gave off removed any uncertainties. I slept like a baby, probably the last good sleep I would get. Unfortunately for me, my wake up call was far from normal.

_**"Wakey wakey eggs and bakey!"**_ a voice echoed. It was so loud in my head, I practically flew off of the couch I was lying on, arms flailing to ward off any potential attackers. I blinked repeatedly, fighting off the feeling of sleepiness and noticed that the room around me was empty. _What the hell was that? _I wondered.

_**"That was me."**_ the voice said. Now that I was a little more awake, I recognized the sarcastic tone. _Nuzlocke_. _**"Get the kid an award, he's got it! Look, I don't mean to push, but I have some last minute tips for you. One, cover that mark on your hand. Two, I slipped a starter fund into your new bag outside, use it to pick up some essentials. Three, I gave you a grace period for yesterday, but things are gonna start now. Four, the mark let's your pokemon talk to you. So that's a thing. Bye."**_

For a few minutes, I groggily sat on the couch, everything he had told me not registering. Then suddenly, I realized what exactly he had said. _My pokemon...can _talk _to me?_ I was tempted to grab my pokeball and let Turtwig out and test it, but I decided not to risk waking Barry. I carefully grabbed my things and crept out the front door. True to Nuzlockes word, there was a black and gray messenger back waiting on the front step. Inside was a black wallet with a white pokeball stitched into it. It was full of bills, money I'd need for my trip. _First stop, new clothes_ I thought. I had noticed that my clothes were dirty as hell and I might as well get a new set.

After a while of walking around town I found a rather large general goods store. I grabbed some basic necessities for traveling, a canteen, a sleeping bag, fire starter kit, etc. I also grabbed a new outfit which I wore out of the store. My short brown hair was covered by a slate bucket cap. I wore a light purple t-shirt with a tan circle and crossed lines on it resembling the markings on a Koffing. Over that was a lightweight black windbreaker. Finally, I bought a pair of black, fingerless gloves that covered my mark. Some new denim jeans and black running shoes completed the new look. Putting my new sunglasses on over my dark blue eyes, I set off on my new adventure.

About an hour later I had left the city far behind me and was well on my way up Route 201. _This looks like as good a place as any_ I thought, my curiosity reaching a breaking point. I pulled out my new belt, on which were clips for six pokeballs. I strapped it on and reached back into my bag to retrieve my one and only ball. I lightly tossed the ball and released my starter.

Turtwig had gotten a lot more confident after his win against Chimchar, and he certainly appeared to be happy with me. He stretched a bit after being in the ball for so long and trotted around the dirt path, looking around.

"How're ya doing today buddy?" I asked. I looked him over and saw what looked like a black smudge on his shell. I looked closer, and saw that it was the same symbol as the one on my hand. The symbol of Nuzlocke. "Huh. Guess we really are in this together."

"In what together?" Turtwig asked. The look on my face must have been priceless, because Turtwig turned around and looked at me with a curious expression. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"I...I can understand you." I stammered. "I mean, I can hear you like you're speaking English!"

The pokemon cocked his head to the side. "Really? That's weird. Mister Rowan couldn't understand me that well. Though I don't think he could actually talk with me." Turtwig said, clearly to young to understand the implications of this.

I nodded. "Yeah, it's pretty weird. But I should have expected this." I muttered. "Oh! Before I move on, I want to ask you something. I've always been a believer in nicknaming my pokemon. Do you have a name already? Because if we can talk like this, I don't want to confuse you."

The turtle pokemon looked deep in thought for a few moments. "No, I don't think I have a name." he said. "I only hatched recently, and Mister Rowan never named us because we were starter pokemon." He looked back up, a cheerful look on his face. "Do you have a name for me?" he asked, suddenly blushing and looking away.

_Wow, he's really shy_ I thought. "Uh, yeah. There was a TV show I used to watch as a kid that starred a turtle. I'll call you Franklin." I patted him on the head, sealing the deal.

"That's a nice name." Franklin said softly as I got to my feet. "Master, what's TV?" he asked as we started walking down the path.

"Okay, right off the bat, don't call me master." I said. "Paired with your shy attitude, that's gonna get weird _really_ quick. Call me Nick. Second, TV is hard to explain. I'll point one out to you if we ever see one." We walked in silence for a while, enjoying the day. After a while, I decided to explain things further. "Look, I'm not exactly on your typical journey. I want you to know what you're in for before we start." I pulled back the glove on my right hand, showing him the mark. "See this?" I asked.

Franklin nodded. "This is called the Mark of Nuzlocke." I said, putting my glove back on. "You've got one on the back of your shell too." I chuckled a bit as the grass-type started walking in a circle, neck craning to get a glimpse of the mark on his shell. "Stop that, you're not gonna see it. Trust me though, it's there." He stopped, an embarrassed blush on his face, and we continued walking. "So I'll give you the short version. I'm taking what's called the Nuzlocke challenge. The goal is to challenge the Elite Four and collect certain items. The catch is that I can only catch the first pokemon I see in an area, which limits how good of a team we can get."

I stopped walking and knelt down next to Franklin. He stopped too, probably noticing how serious the air around me was. "The second rule is that my pokemon don't faint in battle. They...they die."

Franklin's eyes went wide and he took a few steps back. "What...what do you mean? Pokemon don't die in battles! I beat Chimchar yesterday and he's still alive!"

I shook my head. "That's the thing Franklin. Barry's not taking the challenge. If Chimchar had won instead of you, you wouldn't have fainted. It would be all over."

The turtle shivered and took another step back. "I'm not sure I want to be in this challenge Nick." he whispered, tears beginning to well in his eyes. My heart practically broke seeing that. _Man, I don't want this poor guy to be so scared. _I moved forward and wrapped my arms around the little turtle, pulling him into a tight hug.

"Don't worry little guy. I've trained pokemon before. I know exactly what I'm doing. I won't let you die." I said, hugging him tighter. He wiggled a bit in discomfort and I let him go, placing him back on the ground. He sniffled a bit before nodding his head.

"Okay. I'll do my best too then! I won't let anyone else on our team die either!" he said, suddenly full of bravado and energy. He turned back towards the forest in the distance, nodding his head again, as if comforting himself. "Let's go!" he roared, suddenly running down the dirt path. I watched him go for a second, stunned at his sudden change in behavior before tearing after him.

We ran down the path for a while before slowing down to our previous walking pace. Now that everything had been cleared up between us, we started talking about random things, getting to know each other. It turns out that starter pokemon don't have much to talk about since they're cooped up in the lab until a trainer comes to pick them up or they grow old enough to be sent to the breeding farms. Franklin did have some interests, one of which was seeing the world outside of Sandgem.

"I've only ever seen the pokemon lab and your town back there." Franklin said. "I want to see all kinds of places. Mister Rowan talked to us all about snow and mountains and thick forests! I want to see those things!" He was so excited about it that I couldn't help but feel supportive.

"Sure, we can see all those things." I said. "I'm interested in seeing some of the places in Sinnoh as well, I haven't actually been here before."

We reached the end of the road with the now familiar sign that pointed to Sandgem and the lake. The scuff marks in the path from yesterday's battle were already blown away by the wind. I turned toward Sandgem town and the patch of tall grass. "Okay Franklin, ready to do some battling?" I asked. The turtle nodded, his eyes full of determination. I stepped towards the grass when a familiar voice reached my ears.

"Wwwwaaaaaaiiiiiit Niiiiiiiiick!" Barry called, running full tilt towards the two of us. He was really hauling ass, reaching us in a fraction of the time it took for us to cover the distance. He skid to a stop and promptly doubled over, breathing heavily from his marathon. "You -pant- left -pant- without -wheeze- saying bye." he said. Taking a few more breaths, he straightened. "I wanted to say good luck in your gym challenge." he said, holding out a hand. I shook it right away, my attitude towards him greatly improving. _This Barry is leaps and bounds better than the game version_ I thought.

"Oh! One more thing!" Barry said suddenly, dragging me into a headlock. "Now that we have pokemon of our own, let's go to the lake and capture that legendary pokemon!" Before I could answer he was off, literally dragging me with him. _Maybe I spoke to soon_ I thought as Franklin hurried to keep up with Barry's urgent pace.

A (thankfully) short trip later, we arrived at Lake Verity. Looking out across it, the scenery was beautiful. I noticed that the island cave Mesprit hid in was nowhere to be found. I continued to look around the lake when Barry suddenly poked me in the shoulder. I glared at him and he simply pointed forward. "Who's that?" he asked.

A man was standing at the edge of the water, small waves lapping at his boots. He was taller than I was, with broad shoulders and a solid build. His hair was a neutral blue, almost the same color as the lake, and spiked in the back. As soon as I saw the hair I knew who it was. _Cyrus!_ _The leader of Team Galactic! What's he doing here?_ I thought. My blood froze when I remembered the second rule. _I can't refuse a battle. What if he challenges me? Franklin isn't nearly strong enough to take him on alone!_

As panic flooded me, I almost didn't hear as Cyrus suddenly spoke. "I guess you won't appear to me. Is it because I am the wrong champion? Are you awaiting the champion of will?" He paused, shaking his head. "No matter. You will be mine soon enough Mesprit." He turned, walking up a small path right towards us. He paused a few steps away, apparently just noticing us. _Oh shit, here it comes!_ I thought frantically, inching slightly in front of Franklin protectively.

"Move aside please." Cyrus said coldly. I nodded and quickly scooped up Franklin, moving out of the way. Barry did the same on the other side and the blue-haired criminal walked past, a quiet "thank you" muttered to us as he left the lakefront.

Seconds ticked by before I let go of a breath I didn't know I was holding. Barry did the same. "Wow." the blonde said. "That guy was really weird. What was all that about champions? I'm the only champion around here!" he said indignantly. Despite the dark mood, I chuckled at his prideful speech. _It is weird though_ I thought. _I don't remember anything about a champion in the game. What was he talking about?_

Barry moved down to where Cyrus was and looked out around the lake. "Now if I was a legendary pokemon, where would I be?" he asked himself. _Probably inside an invisible cave in the center of the lake_ I thought sarcastically, but stopped myself from telling him outright. I did, however, feel the need to point out a glaringly obvious fact.

"Uh, Barry? Do you have any spare pokeballs to catch this legendary with? Or do you plan on tying it up and carting it around in a wagon?" I asked.

Barry stopped and stared at the ground for a second. I swear I could see the gears turning in his head at the revelations I had unleashed. "Oh my god you're right." he said. "Let's go get some from Prof. Rowan!" he announced and just like that, he was gone, up the lakefront and out of sight. I sighed and glanced down at Franklin, still tucked under my arm. "He may be the most scatterbrained person I've ever met." I said.

"Funny though." Franklin added as I put him back down and we started off towards Sandgem.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: New Friends**

While Barry tore through Route 201 to get to Sandgem and the lab, I casually walked with Franklin, continuing our conversation from earlier. Before long, we were back at the tall grass. Franklin looked apprehensive about going through, but after a reassuring pat on the head from me and he looked ready to go.

Honestly, it wasn't that bad. The random Starly and Bidoof were no match for Franklins tackles. By the time we had arrived in Sandgem, he had grown a few levels and learned Withdraw. _Well, it's not the best move to know, but we're getting there _I thought.

Right at the entrance of town there was a man with a white apron looking around nervously. He stood in front of a sign that read FREE SAMPLES. I decided that I should check this out because, hey, it's free. The man's face lit up as we approached, especially when he saw Franklin.

"Young trainer!" he called excitedly, stepping forward with his arms held wide. "Please accept this free Potion as a reminder to stop by the local PokeMart to pick up any training supplies you need." he handed me a small bottle with a spray nozzle attached. The liquid inside was teal and it looked more like windex than medicine.

I nodded and took the offered potion. "Thanks, I'll be sure to stop by." I said. The man smiled and nodded as we walked away, looking out for the lab. The town was certainly larger than Twinleaf, but not as big as the cities I knew we'd find later in our journey. As we walked around, seeing the sights, I spotted a familiar pink blob with a white cap.

"Hey Dawn!" I called. The lab assistant looked up from her window shopping and waved when she saw us. She looked down and started chatting and that's when I noticed the pokemon next to her. It was a small bird with a large head and blue feathers all over except it's belly which was white. It had white markings around it's eyes, which looked at us distrustfully. I recognized it instantly as a Piplup.

"Hi Nick, hi Turtwig!" Dawn said, walking up to us. The Piplup was lagging behind a bit, dragging it's feet on purpose. I smiled at the sight.

"Actually, it's Franklin for him now." I said. I looked at the turtle in question and nudged him with my foot, encouraging him to go talk with Piplup. "I always nickname my pokemon, but I didn't have time yesterday."

Dawn frowned. "Always?" she asked. "You've trained pokemon before?" A curious look appeared on her face.

I almost started panicking. "uh, yeah. Back home, I have a bunch of pokemon on the ranch. At least, they're the families pokemon." _Nice save_ I thought.

Dawn nodded. "Oh, that's a common thing." she said. "I even give my own nicknames to the pokemon at the lab sometimes."

I nodded, turning my attention back to the two pokemon. Franklin was continuing to be his usual shy self despite my encouragement. Piplup, meanwhile, seemed adamant to not interact with us in any way. She had her arms crossed and was staring across the street intensely. Franklin seemed to want to ask what she was doing, but was to shy to actually talk to her. I decided to intervene before the poor turtle self-destructed due to nerves.

"So who's this little one?" I asked, kneeling down and taking a closer look at Piplup. Forced to no longer ignore me, the bird pokemon turned her head and gave me a glare that would have made me back off if it wasn't coming from a foot tall blue bird.

"That's Lizbeth." Dawn said, sighing as she watched her pokemon's behavior. "She's not very social and bonded to me early so I decided to choose her as my starter. I'm _trying_ to get her to interact with people more, but she's stubborn."

Lizbeth looked up at Dawn, chirping softly. _Huh, I didn't understand that _I thought. _Guess I can only talk with my pokemon._ Dawn smiled and patted Lizbeth on the head, ruffling her feathers. "Go on, introduce yourself to Franklin." she said.

Franklin seemed to be braver now that we were watching his back and he stepped forward. "Hi! I'm Franklin! Let's be friends." he said, extending a leg in an attempt of a handshake. Being a turtle, it was a little awkward looking, but the point got across. Lizbeth stared at the offered leg for a solid minute and Franklin looked like he was about to let it fall when she reached out with a flipper and shook it.

"Yay!" Dawn cried, delighted that her pokemon was making friends. "I'm so proud of you Lizbeth." The Piplup simply nodded.

"It's fun making new friends right Franklin?" I asked. The turtle nodded.

"Oh hey, Dawn, I have a question." I said suddenly, looking back to the assistant. "Do you know where the lab is? I need to finish my trainer registration."

Dawn was happy to escort me to the lab. The four of us walked the streets of Sandgem, the two pokemon talking the whole way while Dawn pointed out the best places to visit as we passed them. It was really weird listening to the pokemon talk. I could understand Franklin completely, but not a single peep from Piplup was in anything resembling English. It was like hearing someone talk on the phone, one side of the conversation lost.

Eventually, we arrived at the edge of town. A short walk later, we were at the Pokemon Lab. There was a large central building, two stories tall with large windows in the front and a large range in the back for the pokemon to run around in. I saw all kinds of species native to Sinnoh, and a few that weren't like Nidoran and Wurmple.

Reaching the front door, I was reaching for the doorknob when it burst open, slamming into me and knocking me clear off of the porch. The person who had opened the door had apparently slammed into the other side, not expecting it to stop so suddenly. I groaned, rubbing my bruised face and chest when I saw the identity of my attacker. "Dammit Barry." I said, getting to my feet.

The blonde was rubbing his face, trying to ease the pain of running into a solid oak door. Hearing his name, he looked up and saw us. "Oh, hey Nick, Dawn! Here for registration? I'm all done with that." he said proudly. "I'm on my way to being the best trainer in Sinnoh, and nobody can stop me! C'mon George, we need to get to Jublife ASAP!" And with that, he sped off, the orange monkey hot on his heels as they faded into the horizon.

Dawn and I stared at his retreating form. "He really goes at his own pace doesn't he?" she said. Franklin and I nodded in agreement as Lizbeth scoffed. Turning back to the lab, I stepped through the door and found myself in a room filled to the brim with electronic equipment. Computers lined the walls, text scrolling up in flashing letters, a large incubator was set in the corner with three eggs nestled in it. Rowan stood over the eggs, watching them closely. "Come in, come in." he said, waving us closer.

Franklin and I walked over to him, and I picked the turtle up so he could see the eggs too. Rowan glanced at us, then returned his attention to the eggs. "The next batch of starter pokemon." he explained. "Need to keep them on rotation in case someone needs them." He turned and walked over to a nearby desk, grabbing some items off of it and walking back. "Here then. This is your trainer card, do not loose it." he said, handing me a small plastic card that had my name and starter pokemon emblazoned on it. "You'll need to get your picture taken at the nearest PokeCenter. Now, if you would be so kind, I have a proposition for you."

I watched as he held out his other hand, in which sat a pokedex. The device was a rectangular red case with a camera and a flip screen. I looked at the device before shaking my head. "I'm sorry Professor. I can't take a pokedex." I said.

Rowan studied my face for a short time before putting the device away. "Dawn!" he barked. "Please go check on the pokemon outside. I wish to talk with Nick alone." The black haired girl nodded and stepped out a side door, Lizbeth following her outside. Alone now, Rowan walked back to his desk and grabbed a rolling chair, sitting in it and turning to face me. "Is this because of the Nuzlocke?" he asked.

With the amount of times I've been shocked by revelations recently, you'd think I would just not react anymore. Instead, I took a step back, unconsciously grabbing my right hand. "Why do you say that?" I asked. _Yeah, way to go dumbass. Go ahead and just confirm it._

Rowan leaned forward, a cross expression on his face. "Listen to me carefully Nick." he said, his voice low and authoritative. "I cannot stop you from attempting this challenge, not now. But I can tell you this. Be careful. The pokemon you capture are going to be putting their lives on the line. And the worst part is, they don't have a say in it. They're lives are at risk simply because you captured them." he fell back in his seat, stern expression remaining. "Are you prepared to take that responsibility? If a pokemon dies because of your game, are you prepared to accept the consequences?"

I nodded, recovering from my earlier surprise. "Yes. I wouldn't have accepted this challenge if I didn't think I could win." I looked down at Franklin. "I don't want any of my pokemon to die. I'll do anything in my power to keep them safe."

Rowan's brow furrowed even more. "A childs view." he retorted. "Sooner or later Nick, you are going to make a mistake. And when that happens, you're not going to be able to protect them. This is not as simple as you think it is boy." He stood up, grabbing a disk off of his desk. "Here." he said, handing it to me. "I cannot stop this madness, but I can at least help you survive. This is a Technical Machine, a TM. It will teach the move Return to your pokemon. I assume you already know what Return does?"

I nodded, slipping the TM into the CD case I bought just for this kind of thing, thanking him. As I started to leave, I paused at the door. "Prof. Rowan?" I asked. He grunted from his desk. "When did you know I was taking the challenge?"

"When I first saw you on Route 201." he replied without looking up from his work. I stood there for a moment before leaving. _What a strange guy_ I thought.

Back in town, I found my way towards Route 202. Making my way to the next route, I heard a voice call my name. Looking around, I saw an unfamiliar woman waving at me from down the street. _Who the hell is this?_ I thought.

The woman trotted up to me. She was wearing a yellow sundress and had curly honey colored hair. "You're Nick, right?" she asked. I nodded. "I'm Barry's mom. He left home in such a hurry this morning, he forgot his stuff. Would you give it to him?" she asked, holding up a parcel.

"Sure." I muttered, grabbing the box and putting it in my bag. She thanked me and we parted ways. A short jog later, I was at Route 202. It was a winding path through the forest, short cliffs preventing me from taking the direct route straight across. I was about to step into the grass when I heard my name for the third time today.

"Wait Nick!" Dawn called, jogging up to me. "I forgot to give you these at the lab." she said, holding out 5 pokeballs. I nodded and took them, putting them in my bag and thanked her. "No problem." she said. "Hey, want me to teach you how to catch pokemon?"

I shook my head. "Already learned it on the ranch." I said. _Man, this ranch excuse is working out perfectly. Why didn't I think of this with Barry?_ She nodded and walked towards Jublife. "Okay then, see you later!" she called, releasing Lizbeth and making her way up the path.

I turned and started to follow her. _**"Not so fast buddy."**_ _oh man, not this guy again.__** "Yes, this guy again. Look, now that you have pokeballs, rule 1 is in place. Which means, those pokemon you saw on 201 and the lake earlier? They don't count as the first one. Have at it."**_ I stood there nodding. I glanced down at Franklin, who was looking at me.

"Why'd you stop Nick?" he asked.

"Nothing really." I said, grabbing a spare pokeball out of my bag. "How about we go make some new friends, huh?" I said. We tore off into the route, eyes darting for the first pokemon we could find.

Later that night, I decided it was to dark to continue to Jublife. _Besides, I need to train these new recruits so they're on par with Franklin._ I thought, glancing down at the three new pokeballs on my belt. I went to the PokeCenter, getting my photo taken while I was at it, and grabbed a room. Once I got everything settled, I took the pokeballs off of my belt. Tossing them lightly, four beams of light emerged. One beam turned into Franklin who I immediately picked up and set on the bed next to me. We watched the other three pokemon look around their new surroundings.

One was a female Bidoof. I had caught her on Route 201 when I found her sleeping under a nearby tree. Once she was awake, she fought with more vigor than I thought she would, making her an interesting addition to the team. A small chirp brought my attention to the Starly I had caught at Lake Verity. This one was also female, flapping her wings and ruffling her feathers before she started to herd the other two, preventing them from wandering off. This might have been a mistake with the latest addition. A male Shinx growled deeply at the bird as she tried to get him to move over. Wisely, she decided it wasn't a good fight and focused her attention on me. Looking closely, I saw that they all had the Mark on them, on the Bidoofs belly, the Starlys left wing, and the Shinxs chest.

"Uh, hello everyone." I said. The three of them looked at me, a fascinating mixture of interest, boredom and apathy. "Look, I'm gonna give you the short version. I'm doing a challenge. It makes me able to understand your speech. Also, I'm gonna nickname you so if you have a problem with that, speak up now."

"No problems here." the Starly chirped. The Bidoof nodded and the Shinx merely rolled his eyes.

"Okay then." I said. "You are now, Brittany, Sora, and Mufasa." I said, pointing at the Bidoof, Starly and Shinx respectively. They seemed to like the names, or at least, Sora did. Brittany seemed to be falling asleep and Mufasa didn't say anything, just lying on the floor and staring at me with a bored expression.

"Alright, this is Franklin." I said, gesturing to the turtle next to me. "And finally, a word of warning." I got serious as I leaned in. "This challenge is dangerous. I'm gonna do everything I can to keep you safe but please believe me when I say that you can die."

Sora seemed slightly concerned with this knowledge but didn't say anything. Brittany really _was_ asleep now, and I didn't want to wake her. Surprisingly, this information seemed to gain Mufasa's attention. He got to his feet and walked up to me. He sniffed ay my legs for a bit, then nodded. "You'll do." he said simply, his voice surprisingly deep for the little cat. He walked back to his previous spot and lay down again.

"Ooookay. So, I'll leave it to Franklin to sort out the details. I'm going to bed. Goodnight!" I said, reaching over and turning off the light. I dreamt of victory and new friends ahead. If I only knew.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: Consequences**

I woke up the next day excited for a day of training and, hopefully, making my way to Jublife. I got out of the bed and carefully made my way across the room, taking care to avoid Franklin and Brittany, who had both opted to sleep in the middle of the floor. Glancing around as I got dressed I saw Sora perched on a shelf and Mufasa was lying on the desk sitting in the corner. After I got everything in order, doing my morning rituals such as brushing my teeth, I decided it was time to wake the team.

"Alright everyone, time to get up. We have a big day of training today and I want to get to Jublife before dark." I announced, lightly shaking Brittany awake when she didn't stir like the others. Sora was the quickest to wake up, gliding down from her perch to land on my shoulder.

"So we're all training today?" she said. I nodded. "Mostly Mufasa and Brittany." I said. "You need a bit of training to reach Franklins level, but not much." Turning my attention to the pokemon in question, I found Brittany almost falling back asleep and Mufasa seemed to have _actually_ gone back to sleep.

"C'mon man, wake up." I said, reaching over to shake him awake too. Right before I made contact he stood up and walked to the other side of the desk before lying back down. I stared at him, unsure about what to do before deciding I needed to put everyone in their pokeballs anyway. I returned everyone but Sora, keeping her on my shoulder as I marched through the PokeCenter.

"Thank you for staying!" the Joy said at the front desk. I waved as I went out the door and stepped into the morning air. It seemed to be the beginning of fall in Sinnoh, the trees just starting to turn from green to red. Looking around, I got my bearings and started towards Route 201.

"Uh, Nick?" Sora asked. "Why are we going to 201? Shouldn't we train at Route 202 where there's tougher pokemon?"

I nodded. "On any other day I would agree with you Sora." I answered. "But, as I said last night, this isn't an ordinary adventure. I don't want to push you guys in training and risk someone dying. No, we'll be fine with the weaker Bidoof and Starly. No offense." I added, remembering that Sora was from Lake Verity, which was close enough to 201.

"None taken." she said, pleased with my answer. After walking through town, we arrived at the entrance to the route, tall grass waiting for us, filled with unsuspecting pokemon. "Okay Sora, you're up first." I said, nudging up with my shoulder indicating she should fly. She took the hint, spreading her wings to an impressive for her size two and a half feet and launched into the air. I spent a few minutes just watching her fly before focusing on the task at hand. Walking around in the grass, I spotted a Bidoof grazing lazily. "Okay Sora, Tackle!" I cried, pointing out the target.

The brown and white bird dived out of the air, slamming into her target right on. The Bidoof was clearly fazed, but hadn't taken enough damage to faint. Before Sora could get enough altitude, it retaliated with it's own tackle, knocking the bird to the ground. For a moment my heart stopped, wondering if the Bidoof was to much of a challenge, even for her. But then she took to the skies, clearly no worse off then she was before the attack. "Great job Sora, come in for another Tackle!" I ordered.

It went on like this for a while. Eventually I decided that Sora had had enough training and I switched her out for Brittany. Noon seemed to be a much more preferable time to be active for the little rodent, now that she was wide awake.

"You know, I didn't get a chance to talk to you much last night." I told the brown pokemon. I walked along the route with her, looking for a new pokemon to fight. "I'm curious about what you think about this whole challenge thing."

Brittany was quiet for a while. "Well, it's not exactly my place to say." she said. "I mean, I'll put my best foot forward but I don't see this challenge being any different than day-to-day life for a wild pokemon like myself." She seemed to have a better outlook than most, but that may be because she's a Bidoof. I looked forward and saw another wild Bidoof ahead. "Oh hey, there's one!" she said, spotting it too. She charged forward without my orders, ramming headlong into the other brown rodent. It took the hit surprisingly well, shaking it off and glaring at my pokemon.

"Brittany, back off for a bit, I have a bad feeling about this one." I said nervously, hand reaching for Mufasas ball. "Let someone else take this one."

"No way, I've got this!" Brittany said, standing her ground against the other Bidoof, a male I noticed. The two Bidoof circled each other, bringing to mind some kind of gladiator fight. Suddenly, the wild one launched forward, hitting Brittany with a solid shoulder tackle. She was shaken a bit by the blow, but not enough to make her back off. She charged again, hitting him with all her might, knocking him off of his feet. For a moment, I thought the force of the blow would be enough to end the fight. Then the wild Bidoof stood back up, still ready to go. I noticed Brittany was breathing hard. _She needs to get out of there _I thought. "Brittany! Back off!" I shouted, releasing Mufasa in preparation for the switch.

"No! One more hit and he's down!" she said, charging for the wild Bidoof again. Something sparked in the wild ones eyes and I knew immediately that this wasn't going to end well. It charged forward to meet her, side-stepping at the last minute and ramming her side full-force. I heard a _crack_ and watched as Brittany tumbled down the path and lay still.

"Mufasa! Get him!" I shouted, running towards Brittany. In the corner of my eye I saw the blue cat latch himself onto the wild Bidoof's back, scratching at his hide with his claws. It didn't take long for the weakened Bidoof to faint under the barrage of attacks. I knelt by Brittany's side, noticing that she wasn't moving. "Brittany?" I asked, nudging her a bit with my hand.

"S-sorry Nick." she said, looking up at me with one black button eye. "I thought I had him." Her eyes closed and I knew she was gone. _I can't believe this!_ I thought, anger towards myself building. _I haven't even left the second town yet and someone's already dead!_ I yelled wildly and punched the ground next to me. _Dammit! What's wrong with me?_ I thought.

I soft glow caught my attention, and I looked back up at Brittanys body. The symbol on her stomach was glowing blue. The glow spread itself across her body until it covered all of her. Then, before my very eyes, the blue shape of her rose off the body and started floating away. I stared in awe as the blue Brittany moved up towards the clouds before being lost in the sky. I blinked a few times and looked back down at her body. _The mark's gone_ I noticed. _That...that must have been her spirit._

"She died a warriors death. Nothing to be ashamed of." a deep voice said. I looked over to see Mufasa, sitting next to me, cleaning his claws form the battle. "We need to move on." he said when he saw me looking. I nodded and got to my feet. "Not yet." I said. "We need to bury her."

Thankfully, it didn't take long to make a hole big enough for Brittanys body. After filling the grave, I grabbed two stick from the nearby woods. Tying them together in a cross shape, I planted it at the head of the grave. "Bye Brittany." I said. "I'll do better from now on. I promise."

I spent the rest of the afternoon training Mufasa. At dinner time I went back into town and bought some picnic supplies from a local store, as well as some markers, plastic card sleeves and index cards. "What are those for?" Franklin asked as I put the items in my bag. "You'll see." I replied, making my way back to Route 201.

I decided to eat dinner as a picnic out on Rout 201. I lay out a blanket and released Sora and Mufasa before setting out the bowls and food. Sora looked around, then walked up to me. "Where's Brittany?" she asked, concern evident in her voice. I flinched unconsciously, then pointed. Sora looked in that direction and saw the cross on the other side of the clearing. "Oh." she gasped. "Oh no."

Franklin walked over, a weird look on his face. "Nick, I thought you said no one would die." he said. "Why is Brittany gone?"

Before I could answer, Mufasa stepped forward. "Because she misjudged her strength." he said. "She was overconfident, and took on an opponent she shouldn't have." His golden eyes latched onto me. "That does not remove all the blame from you." he said coldly. "You need to know our strengths better than we do. We are warriors under your charge. We fight, and die, at your command." Having said what he wanted to say, Mufasa went over to his bowl and began chewing on the cooked meat and vegetables inside. Franklin looked conflicted, and eventually moved over to his salad bowl and started eating as well.

Sora, however, refrained from eating. "I know you didn't mean for it to happen." she said. "I just want you to know that if you want to talk, I'm here. And Franklin is too." she patted my back with a wing before moving over to the bowl of seeds I had laid out for her. I stared at my own food, my appetite not exactly what it was before. Putting it down, I reached into my pack and grabbed the other supplies I had bought. I wrote on one of the index card, before sliding it into a plastic sheath. Tying some string around it, I stood up and walked over to the cross. I put the homemade sign on it and looked at my handiwork.

_Here lies Brittany the Bidoof._

_I barely knew you, but_

_you taught me much._

I nodded and went back to the picnic, digging into my food and feeling better about myself. _I'll do better. I have to do better._ I thought.

After dinner, we packed up quickly, wanting to get to Jublife before sunset. Returning Franklin and Mufasa, I sped through Sandgem Town for the last time, Sora flying overhead. Arriving at Route 202, I made my way up the hill, occasionally fighting off wild pokemon with Sora. She had learned a how to use Quick Attack, and was putting the new move to use, hitting her opponents before they could even see her.

"Hey you!" a voice called out as I turned onto the second level of the path. I looked around and saw a young boy, about 13 from what I could tell, wearing shorts and a t-shirt. He wore a backwards baseball cap and, most importantly, had a pokeball in his hand. "Let's battle!" he practically shouted, excitement clearly evident in his voice.

_This has to be his first trainer battle_ I thought. "Alright then. Sora! Come down!" I called. The Starly swooped down, landing on the path between me and the youngster. "My name's Nick." I said.

"I'm Tristan." the boy said. "Let's go, Starly!" he through the ball a little to hard, his pokemon materializing far closer to Sora than what was probably intended. The bird squawked in surprise and flapped it's wings, backing up a respectable distance. "Alright, let's get started! Tackle!" the boy shouted.

"Quick Attack Sora, don't let him hit you." I called. Sora's easily outsped the other trainers pokemon, taking to the air and ramming it hard. The Starly was made of tougher stuff, however, and retaliated with a light tackle, knocking Sora off balance temporarily.

"Good job Starly, now use Quick Attack!" Tristan announced. The fact that his Starly knew Quick Attack too caught me off guard, allowing it to score another hit on Sora. "Sora, hit him with another Quick Attack!" I called. The blow clearly hurt the enemy Starly this time. It started flying a lot closer to the ground, and only flapping occasionally to stay aloft. "Starly, Quick Attack again!" Tristan shouted. "Sora, finish it off with your own Quick Attack!" I ordered. Tristan's Starly flew upwards, it's fatigue doing nothing to diminish it's speed, but Sora dodged out of the way and came back around, hitting it hard in the back. The Starly gave a cry and fell to the ground, fainted.

"Great job Sora!" I said as she flew back over, landing on my shoulder. I ruffled the feathers on the back of her head a bit.

"Thanks Nick." she said. I looked back at Tristan, who had recalled his fallen Starly. "Good match man." I said, offering a hand that he shook begrudgingly. "Yeah whatever." he muttered.

We parted ways then, Tristan heading back to Sandgem and the PokeCenter, and I went up the trail to Jublife. After a short while, and a few more trainer battles, I arrived at the entrance to the city just as the sun was beginning to set. I had Franklin out at the time, and we both marveled at how big the buildings were. It reminded me a lot of the downtown area of my hometown. Tall office buildings that weren't exactly skyscrapers, but were definitely 50 floors up were placed here and there. In between these giants were smaller buildings with all kinds of different shops and restaurants. I saw the local PokeCenter and made my way there, hoping to heal my team and book a room for the night. I was distracted when I caught sight of a familiar pink coat. The blue penguin next to her confirmed it. "Hey Dawn!" I called, waving.

Dawn looked around, eventually catching sight of me. "Nick, Franklin!" she said waving. Lizbeth made a half-wave, which I guess was progress for the introverted pokemon. Franklin and I walked over to them, noticing the large quantity of bags they were holding. "Doing some window shopping huh?" I asked, gesturing at the bags.

"Huh? Oh, yeah." Dawn said, looking down at the bags herself. "I guess I went a little overboard, but there's so much cool stuff to buy!" Lizbeth nodded solemnly.

"So being the Professor's assistant pays well then." I said. I noticed Dawn's face flush a bit.

"Not exactly." she said quietly. "I'm...see, my family's...well, rich." she said, embarrassment evident in her voice.

I raised an eyebrow. "Really? Well, that's certainly interesting. So why do you work for Rowan?" I asked.

Dawn brightened up, apparently glad at the change in subject. "I wanted to get to know pokemon better." she answered. "I figured the best way to do that was to work with Professor Rowan."

A small silence fell after that. I decided to break the tension. "So, what brings you to Jublife, other than the shopping? Seems like the Professors Aid should stick close to the Professor." I said.

Dawn nodded. "Normally, yeah, I wouldn't leave Sandgem. But Professor Rowan sent me on a special mission." She put one bundle of bags down and fished around in her coat pocket. Finally, she withdrew a pokedex. "The Professor wants me to fill this pokedex as much as possible. I can't do that stuck in Sandgem." She returned the device to her pocket.

"Oh cool." I said. "I would've done that too if it wasn't for...complications." I said, remembering that Dawn didn't know about the challenge. Dawn looked at me, curiosity clear on her face. She seemed to let it go, relief rushing through me.

"So, want me to show you the sights?" she asked. "We've only been here for a few days, but we know enough to be your guides." Lizbeth chirped sharply from the sidewalk. I glanced down at her, then did a double take. She wasn't chirping in agreement as I first thought, but was actually tugging on Dawn's pantleg and pointing down a nearby alley.

"What's going on?" I asked Franklin, seeing the turtle also looking down the alley. He looked up at me. "There's a strange looking guy hiding in there, watching us." he said before looking back. I followed his line of sight and found the man in question, trying his best to squeeze behind a trashcan that was easily half his size.

"Uh, dude? Can we help you?" I asked, taking a step forward. He drew himself closer together in an effort to be smaller. "Dude, we can see you. Honestly, it's not working. At all." I said flatly.

"First he can talk to pokemon, and now he can see through my clever disguise. Who is this mysterious lad, and what does this mean for the future?" the man said to himself, apparently oblivious to the volume of his voice. I could hear him clearly from a good distance away despite the noise of the city.

"Uh, look man, I don't know what you want, but can you leave my friend and I alone? We don't want to cause a scene here." I said, backing away. _Last thing I want is to get involved with this looney_ I thought.

Asking to be left alone was a bad move it seemed, as the man leaped out from behind the trashcan. "Vile villains!" he announced. "Your evil plan will never succeed as long as I, Agent Looker, am on the case! Now, Team Galactic, submit to authority and tell me your plans!" he cried, running towards us.

**As much as I hate to end this chapter mid-scene, it's going on far to long in my opinion. Don't worry, next chapter will be up soon, I promise.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: Secret Agent Man**

I recoiled a bit at the sudden change in the man's tone. Lizbeth stepped in front of Dawn protectively, flippers raised and ready to fight. People were starting to stare at the commotion going on, though the man, Looker, apparently, didn't seem to notice.

"I ask again! Surrender peacefully and tell me your plans Team Galactic!" he cried, stepping forward again and withdrawing a pair of handcuffs from his coat pocket, twirling them around his finger.

"Dude, I have no idea what you're talking about!" I yelled, getting more and more fed up with this guy by the minute. "We're not a part of Team Galactic! We're just regular trainers!" I gestured at Franklin, trying to get my point across.

Looker looked down at Franklin, then back to me. "You could have stolen that pokemon." he said, his softer tone revealing he was unsure of himself. "You have to be from Team Galactic! How else could you have seen through my clever disguise?" he asked, gesturing behind him at the trashcan.

I sighed, putting my head in my hand. _I can't deal with this lunatic. I just can't_. "Look, literally _anyone_ could have seen through that. You're twice the size of the stupid trash can!" I explained. The crowd that had started to gather laughed at this revelation and Looker's face turned bright red.

"Well. That was...part of my plan all along! To test you!" he announced suddenly. "Here," he said, putting the handcuffs away and grabbing a rectangular device out of his coat. "I'll give this to you as a reward! Now, look out for Team Galactic! I'm off!" he shouted, shoving the device into my hand and running down the street, the onlookers parting to let the crazy bastard by. I stared after him before looking down at the thing he had given me.

It looked like a tablet from the real world, except it had a circular device at one end with a camera in it. Of course, like everything else in this place, it had a pokeball logo around the camera. _Whoever invented pokeballs has to be loaded_ I thought, placing the tablet in my bag. _I'll have a look at that later._

I looked over at Dawn, who was still staring in the direction Looker had run off in. "That...was weird." she said slowly. Lizbeth chirped in agreement, shaking her head.

"Yeah, definitely weird." I agreed. I checked my watch, seeing that I still had time before I should find a PokeCenter. "Still up for that tour?" I asked.

"Oh, right!" Dawn said, suddenly remembering the conversation we were having before Looker appeared. "Let's go!" she said, heading down the street, in the opposite direction as Looker I noted.

It was a fairly quick tour I noticed. The city was large, so we only walked around the few blocks near the PokeCenter. Dawn pointed out the Trainers School, which was an endless source of hilarity to me. They send 10-year-_olds out with pokemon and there's a freaking _school_ for it?_ I thought. _That's like getting a job before jr high!_ Other than that, the "tour" was mostly restaurants and places to shop. Nothing that really interested me personally, but I humored Dawn and thanked her at the end. We parted ways and I headed back to the PokeCenter.

The next day I was at a loss as to what to do. After getting ready for the day, I released Franklin and we started walking the streets. "So buddy, what do you think we should do today?" I asked, glancing down at the turtle pokemon.

"I wanna go back to that Trainers School." he said happily. The answer caught me off guard.

"The Trainer's School?" I said. "Why? It's not like we need any lessons."

"I know that." Franklin muttered. "I just think it's a good place to visit. And I...want to play with the other pokemon." he said, so quietly that I barely caught it. I grinned down at him.

"Alright, if you want to go play, we'll go to the school." I said, crossing the street and heading towards the building in question. Franklin seemed glad that I agreed with him, happily trotting in front of me with his head held high. I almost laughed, but didn't want to put him out of such a good mood. After a short while we arrived at the school. The blue and red painted building sat in front of a decent sized lot that served as the playground for the students and pokemon. Dawn had mentioned that it was open to the public, so long as your pokemon were small enough. Apparently they had problems with punks coming in with scary pokemon like Steelix and Abomasnow.

I sat on an available bench and waved Franklin off to go play with the children. He was slow to join in, his shyness coming back again, but eventually he managed to join a game of tag. I let Mufasa and Sora out of their pokeballs too. Sora went to play with the children too and Mufasa lay down on the bench, apparently unfinished with the nap he had earlier in the day. I watched the blue-furred cat for a while before deciding to speak up. "Hey Mufasa, why don't you talk with us very much?" I asked.

The Shinx opened one golden eye halfway, staring at me lazily. "Because there isn't anything to be said." he grumbled, returning to his nap. I decided not to push it and turned my attention back on the playing pokemon and children.

We stayed at the Trainers School for a while but after a few hours I decided it was time to go. "Franklin, Sora!" I called. Franklin came running over, clearly tired but with a big grin on his face. "Have fun?" I asked and he nodded before I returned him to the pokeball. That's when I noticed that Sora hadn't come back yet. I looked back across the field and saw her standing in a circle of children. One of them had a pokeball in his hands. _Oh shit_ I thought darkly, getting to my feet and jogging over. Mufasa noticed my movement and followed. As I got closer, I heard the children arguing.

"I saw the Starly first, she's MINE!" the boy with the pokeball screeched. He was a short lad wearing the school uniform of a white shirt and navy pants. He had glasses on and a pouting look on his face that utterly failed to be anything but funny.

The focus of his argument, a girl in her own uniform, a navy skirt and white blouse, stood on the other side of the circle, hands on her hips and a face to match his own. "You already have a Starly Harrison!" she whined. "I want one!" She stomped her foot to emphasize her point. Poor Sora looked completely flustered, unable to tell the kids that she already had a trainer. Thankfully, I got to the group at that point.

"Sorry kids, Sora's actually my Starly." I said. The circle broke, everyone turning to face me behind Harrison and the girl.

"That's right!" Sora chirped, flying up to land on my shoulder. "Sorry darlings. I'm stuck with this knucklehead." I gave her an angry glance, mostly because she knew only I could understand her but also because of the insult. Turning my attention back at the kids, I saw that Harrison had a competitive look on his face.

"Whatever, my Starly is better anyway." he said smugly.

"Really now? Want to test that?" I asked. Now it was Soras turn to glare at me. "Why are you picking a fight with school children?" she asked. "It's not my fault, they started it." I muttered.

The challenge seemed to catch Harrison's attention. "You're on! But if I win, I want that Starly!" he said, clearly planning this all along. _Smart kid._

"Oh yeah? And what if I win?" I asked. Now Sora was really concerned. "Nick, that's a terrible agreement! If I loose, I'm not going to be able to be traded!" she squawked. I ruffled her feathers a little to calm her.

Harrison thought for a moment before the girl piped up. "I've got a Potion!" she announced, holding up the item in question. "But you have to beat me too to get it!" she added.

"Done." I said, stepping back in preparation for the match. The kids scattered, each trying to get the best view but also not wanting to get to close. Harrison and the girl stayed behind, and the boy sent out his Starly.

"C'mon Sora, let's show them what we've got." I said, nudging my shoulder a bit in encouragement. She glared at me then jumped off, gliding down to the ground. "Alright, let's start!" I announced.

"Starly, Quick Attack!" Harrison roared. His pokemon was better trained than the one from yesterday, immediately responding to the command and taking to the sky. It came back around and swooped toward Sora with impressive speed.

"Sora, dodge with your own Quick Attack!" I called. Sora flew up, dodging the incoming blow and circling around to strike her opponent from behind. The enemy Starly squawked in surprise, clearly not used to taking hits yet. A few minutes later, Sora was triumphant, standing in front of the fainted Starly no worse for wear.

Harrison was really mad about this turn of events. "This wasn't supposed to happen!" he whined, recalling his fallen bird. "It's not fair!"

The girl stepped forward, a pokeball of her own in her hands. "Go away Harrison, I need to get that Starly!" she announced, releasing a Bidoof from the pokeball. I glanced at Sora and shrugged.

"I don't think I'll use Sora for this one." I said, recalling her. "Mufasa." I called. The blue cat slinked onto the field from behind me. Apparently the children hadn't noticed him back there, as many "oohs" and "cool"s were uttered. The electric-type seemed unimpressed with the whole situation, his ever present bored expression on his face.

The girl didn't seem any less confident at this switch in opponents. "Bidoof, Tackle!" she cried. The brown beaver charged forward, directly at Mufasa. The cat just stood there, watching it get closer. At the last second, he braced himself. Bidoof slammed into him full force,but the cat didn't give an inch. In fact, he barely looked fazed.

"Scratch attack!" I called and he swiped at Bidoof's hide with his claws. The Bidoof yelped and ran away, surprised at the sudden attack.

"Bidoof, try Tackle again!" the girl said. Bidoof charged forward once again, head low and ready to ram him.

"Mufasa, dodge and use Scratch." I announced. Mufasa nimbly dodged the attack, reaching back with his claws and slashing at the brown fur of the enemy pokemon. Bidoof's momentum carried him a few feet farther before he collapsed, fainted.

The children cheered, happy at seeing such a good battle I guess. The girl seemed to take her loss in stride, at least, much better than Harrison. She returned her Bidoof and skipped over to me. "Good job mister. Here's your Potion." she said, handing me the item.

"Good job to you too." I said, putting to Potion in my bag.

"Eh, I could have done better." a voice said behind me. Turning, I saw Barry standing at the entrance to the school building, George the Chimchar at his side. "What's going on man?" he said, walking over to us as the kids went back inside.

"Not much, I was gonna hang around town for today before heading out." I said. As I put the Potion way, my hands brushed a rectangular box. "Oh shit, I forgot!" I said, grabbing the Parcel and handing it over. "Your mom caught up to me in Sandgem. Said you forgot some stuff back home."

"Oh man, you're right!" Barry said, grabbing the box and ripping it open. "Sweet, my map!" he cried, holding up the small GPS. "What the?" He reached into the box and pulled out another GPS, the same model as the other. "Why'd she give me two maps?" he asked.

"Maybe she thought you'd loose one?" I offered, the situation not that outside reality in my mind.

"Well that's dumb." Barry stated, looking at his two maps. He glanced up at me. "You want one? I really don't need two." he said, holding one of the devices out to me.

"Sure, thanks man." I said, taking it and putting it in my bag.

"No problem." Barry said, already making his way out to the street. "Hey, let's battle again sometime! I've got to train today, but next time I see you!" he called over his shoulder.

I spent the rest of the day wandering around town, exploring different shops and buildings. As I was leaving a shop that sold battle items for pokemon (all of which were overpriced) a man in a suit stepped out in front of me.

"Hello young man, I am the president of the PokeTech company." he announced. "I was wondering if you wanted the opportunity to get a free PokeTech?"

"Free stuff? Alright, let's do it!" I said. The man laid out the specifics of the contest and after an hour and some encounters with clowns, I was walking away with my new watch/smart phone/thing.

"Man, this thing is awesome." I said, scrolling through it. "It let's me know what condition my pokemon are in if I link it up with the pokeballs, lists their known moves so I don't have to remember, and even tells me what you're abilities are!" Franklin watched me fiddling with the blue watch.

"What's my ability?" he asked.

"That's easy." I said. "You have Overgrow. All starter pokemon have the same ability for some reason." I scrolled a few screens over. "Apparently Sora has Keen Eye, which explains how accurate she is, and Mufasa has Intimidate. Huh, that's why that Bidoof's attack didn't do much." I muttered to myself.

My feet hit gravel and I paused, looking up. I was so drawn into my new PokeTech that I hadn't noticed I walked right out of the city. A nearby sign told me this was Route 204. "Hey Franklin, want to go explore?" I asked. The turtle nodded vigorously and we set out down the route. A few trainer battles later, one of which was with an unfortunate young man whose dad had given him a Magikarp for his birthday, we found a cave. There was a sign in front of it, saying that there had been a cave-in and the path to the next town was blocked off temporarily.

"Well. I guess we're not going this way." I muttered, turning back to the patch of tall grass we had walked through. Strangely, we hadn't seen any wild pokemon yet. _All the trainer battles might have scared them away_ I thought. Too soon, apparently, as a rustle in the grass caught my attention.

I almost didn't see it at first. A small lime green pokemon stepped through the grass. It had two arms that it held over it's head like a ballerina. It's small face was on the bottom of it's teardrop shaped body, and was glaring angrily at us. _A Budew_ I thought mellowly. _Dammit, I don't want two grass-types on my team. Guess I have no choice though_

Before I could even give the order for Franklin to attack, the Budew started glowing green. Suddenly, green orbs of energy matching the color around Budew began appearing on Franklin's body and floating over to the wild pokemon. Franklin saw the orbs on him and began to panic, jumping around trying to get them off of him.

"Franklin, relax!" I said, trying to calm the pokemon. "It's an Absorb attack, it's not gonna hurt you very much. We just need to finish the fight and capture that Budew." My words seemed to get through and Franklin stopped fighting the orbs, turning his attention on the stationary Budew. "Tackle attack!" I ordered.

Franklin charged forward and slammed his head into the wild pokemon's body. She flew back, her smaller frame making her much easier to knock over. Her Absorb attack faded away, and she unsteadily got to her feet. My PokeTech beeped and I glanced at it, discovering that it had a wild pokemon readout as well. The Budew was barely above fainting. _She probably would have fainted without that Absorb attack_ I thought.

I grabbed a empty pokeball on my belt and tossed it at the dazed pokemon. It hit right on target, capturing her in red energy before rolling on the ground. I counted the red flashed on the button. _One...Two...Three...Done!_ The ball was still and my PokeTech beeped again. The newly captured Budew's information was all there. "Level 4...Knows Absorb and Growth...Natural Cure ability. Not bad." I said to myself, walking over and picking up the ball. "Welcome to the team Rose, for a while at least."


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: Wildflower**

I made my way back into Jublife to heal Rose before diving into some light training with her. I wasn't planning on keeping her on the team full-time since Franklin was a grass-type, but since I didn't have that many pokemon, I decided the best option was to keep her around until I get a full team. Before I left the city again, an item shop caught my eye, specifically, the Quick Claw on sale in the window. I shrugged, deciding to buy it on a whim. _Franklin needs a way to move faster anyway_ I thought to myself as I purchased the claw. I put it on a string and hung it around his neck. It looked pretty ridiculous, but at least he'd be a little faster now.

I decided that I should train Rose on Route 218, mostly because I hadn't explored it yet and was curious. After passing through the checkpoint, I found that I wasn't missing much. The route was taken up mostly by a large river. Thick trees ran along each edge, preventing me from traveling along the banks. There was a rather large pier set up on this side, but it didn't go very far downriver. At the other end of the pier, a man in a red vest was fishing. Or at least, he was trying to fish.

"Goddammit, every fucking time with these Magikarp!" he shouted, bodily throwing the poor orange fish as far downriver as he could. "I know for a fact that there's more in this damn river than that, so why am I only catching _fucking-Magi-karp_!?" he stomped the pier at the end to prove his point. I cleared my throat, making my presence known. The fisherman glared over his shoulder at me before packing up his fishing gear and grumbling to himself. After a few minutes, he stalked over, shoving the fishing rod and tackle box into my arms. "Here." he grunted. "You take the damn thing. I'm _done_ with fishing." and with that, he stalked off, back through the checkpoint.

I stared at where the fisherman had left, then glanced down at the rod in my arms. I was beaten to hell and back, and was barely more than a stick with some line attached to it. _Well, beggars can't be choosers_ I thought, putting the tackle box away in my bag and walking down to the end of the pier. I released Rose from her pokeball and sat on the wooden edge. "C'mere, I want to talk since we might be here a while." I said, patting the space next to me.

The small plant pokemon stared at me for a while before sighing and walking over. She plopped herself down at the indicated spot and stared out across the river. I cast the line out and we sat in silence for a while, the afternoon sun slowly rolling by above us. Eventually, I decided to speak up.

"So here's the gist of it Rose." she glanced at me after mentioning her new name but otherwise didn't react. "My name's Nick. I'm your trainer now. Now here's where it gets weird. I'm doing a challenge. It's very high risk. You can die. Seriously. I just want you to know that I'm going to do everything I can to keep you alive." I looked over at the grass-type. "And don't freak out to much about it. I mean, not to be rude, but I plan on using Franklin as my grass-type so I'll probably box you the first chance I get."

The little pokemon was silent for a few minutes. "Anything's better than the wild for me." she muttered darkly. I was taken aback by her attitude. _Shouldn't grass-types be sunny and happy?_ I thought.

"Why's that?" I asked, curiosity getting the better of me.

The Budew stared at the water. "I'm not actually from here. My family lives on the other side of the mountain." I gawked at her. _She walked all the way across Mt Coronet? What a badass little Budew!_ "My paw's the leader of the group. He says we have to avoid trainers, can't trust 'em. We have to stay in the forest, don't go into the tall grass unless we have to. But I didn't want to stay stuck there forever. So I just left. Didn't think nothing of it. Didn't end well for me either." The little Budew looked up at me. "Do you know how many fire-types live on this side of the mountain? A lot."

That seemed to be all Rose was going to say since she went silent after that. Not long after I caught my first Magikarp and had Rose take it down. We went through the pattern for a while. Hook a Magikarp, Rose uses Absorb until it faints, throw it back in and wait for another one. It would almost seem cruel if I didn't know that the Magikarp were fine. Once the sun started to set, I packed up and recalled Rose, now even in level with the rest of the crew according to my PokeTech. I walked back to the PokeCenter alone, mentally preparing for the next day.

I woke up the next morning expecting to go through my new morning ritual of waking everyone else up before cleaning up myself. Imagine my surprise when I saw Rose already up and about, prodding Franklin awake with her vines.

"What are you doing up so early?" I asked, getting to my feet and moving over to wake Sora and Mufasa.

Rose made a face at me. "Some trainer you turned out to be. Don't even know Budew are active mostly in the morning." I shrugged and set about getting ready for the day. A short while later, I checked out of the PokeCenter and made my way to Route 203, hoping to get to Oreburgh before nightfall.

Of course, the trainer who stood in the middle of the path before me seemed to have other plans.

"Hey Nick, what took you so long?" Barry asked, a challenging grin on his face and a pokeball in his hand. "I told you that the next time we meet we'd battle." he said, holding the pokeball up.

I sighed. "Dude, did you camp out here and wait for me? That's kinda creepy." I said, grabbing the first pokeball I found. I was still a little groggy from waking up, having never been a morning person.

Barry and I tossed our pokeballs at the same time. I was surprised to see it wasn't George to emerge from Barry's ball, but a Starly. The brown bird was fairly large for his species, and he ruffled his feathers in preparation for the fight. I was so tired and focused on Barry's pokemon, I didn't notice who I had sent out until she spoke to me.

"Uh, didn't you say something about trying to keep me alive yesterday boss? 'Cause this sure doesn't look like my kinda fight." Rose said, backing away slowly from the large bird.

"Oh shit! My bad Rose." I said, recalling her quickly. I double checked the next pokemon before sending her out. "Alright Sora, let's go!" I called.

"Not so fast Nick, you left yourself open!" Barry smirked. "William, use Quick Attack!" he ordered. The large Starly took off, circling around before charging down out of the sky and slamming into Sora. She seemed fine, getting to her feet quickly, but I could tell that William had a lot of power.

"Sora, we can outspeed him. Quick Attack!" I shouted. Sora launched into the sky, hurtling after William as he tried to escape the smaller bird. Just as I thought, Sora was to quick and caught him in the side.

"Use Growl William!" Barry called. The Starly shrieked at the top of it's lungs, sending Sora flying away in fear.

"Snap out of it Sora, Quick Attack!" I said. She shook her head, clearing her thoughts and sped after the larger bird again. She hit, but I could tell that she hesitated slightly and did less damage. The fight went on like this for a while, Sora attacking William at every opportunity and the other bird retaliating with growls to lower her strength. Eventually, it wasn't enough and William fell to the ground, exhausted. Sora flew down, still ready to fight, the only injury the hit form the beginning.

"Good job Will, you did your part." Barry said, comforting his pokemon as he returned it. "Let's finish the fight George!" he said excitedly, releasing the fire monkey.

"Come on Sora, I want to get to Oreburgh before nightfall. Quick Attack!" I ordered. The little bird sped across the battlefield. George put his arms up in defense and Sora slammed into him. However, the orange monkey smirked and flung Sora back, barely damaged from the attack.

_What the hell? _I thought. _Oh shit! The Growls from earlier are still affecting Sora! She can barely do any damage!_ I quickly recalled the flying-type. "Come on out Mufasa!" I said, releasing the electric-type. He circled around George, who had his arms raised defensively, the intimidating glare from the Shinx doing it's work.

"Two can play at that game. George, use Leer!" Barry called. George made his own intimidating face, causing Mufasa to stop his slow pacing, his fur standing on edge.

"Come on Mufasa, use Tackle!" I cried. He charged forward, slamming into the Chimchar with a shoulder tackle, sending the little monkey back a respectable distance. We fell into another pattern, just like before. Barry's pokemon spamming status moves and Mufasa continuing to deal damage again and again. I was worried that with all the Leers, Mufasa wouldn't be able to take any attack George decided to make, but before he even got the chance, Mufasa hit him with one last Tackle and won the match.

"Aw man, that sucks." Barry pouted, returning his pokemon. "Why can't I beat you? I mean, I _am_ the greatest trainer in Twinleaf Town! So what happened?" he asked himself, a sad look on his face. I walked over to him and patted his shoulder.

"Look man, if you want my advice, stop using status moves all the time. You're never going to get anywhere spamming Leer and Growl. You need to attack once in a while too, y'know?" I said, comforting him the best I could. _Am I seriously giving advice to my rival?_ I thought.

This seemed to brighten him up a bit. "You're right Nick! I just need to change my strategy a bit! I'll get you next time!" he shouted, running off down the path to Oreburgh.

I shook my head and looked down at Mufasa. "What is wrong with that guy? He's always on the move." The cat merely nodded and we continued down the path. I spotted a small patch of tall grass up ahead and moved towards it. _I wonder what kind of pokemon live around here_ I thought. I got my answer when a familiar brown ball of fur stumbled into sight. _Well great. Another Bidoof._ I groaned as I sent Mufasa in after it. A short while later, Rebecca became the newest member of the group. "I hope you last longer than Brittany did." I said sadly to the pokeball.

I moved down the path, battling the occasional trainer that crossed my path. The battles were fierce, and more than once I had to use some of the Potions I had bought for emergencies in order to keep going. Rebecca proved to be a much better fighter than Brittany was. She was just as lazy, which I was beginning to notice was a trend with all Bidoof, but she made up for that by trying her very best, no matter the opponent. By the time we had arrived at the tunnel to Oreburgh, she was already leveled up with the rest of the team.

Walking into the cave, I noticed that it wasn't nearly as dark as I thought it would be. Lights lined the ceiling, wires nailed into the rock above to help travelers see where they were going in the cave system. As I started down what seemed to be the right path, a voice called out to me.

"Hold on there sonny, you don't want to go that way." a gruff voice said to my left. I looked over and saw a rather large stout man with a full beard and hiking gear sitting with his back to the wall, a small blanket spread out before him and various foods laid out on the blanket. "That's the path deeper into the mountain. You look like you're one of them trainers that're headed to Oreburgh. The city's that way." he said, pointing behind me.

I turned around and sure enough, there was another path through the rock up ahead. I turned back towards the hiker and his picnic. "Thanks man. What're you doing in here?"

The hiker chuckled to himself. "I'm havin' myself a picnic boy, can't ya tell? But no matter, I'm actually workin' right now. See, the Gym needs people like me to come in here every once in a while and direct traffic for the challengers. Also, they need me to hand out these." he said, reaching into his pack and withdrawing a brown CD case. He handed it to me and I noticed a small indent in the case itself, shaped roughly like a circle, but with the bottom cut off.

"What's this?" I asked stupidly, pocketing the case anyway.

"That there is a Hidden Machine, or HM fer short." he answered. "You can't open it 'til you have the Gym badge. That'd be Roark's badge." he clarified. "It'll teach yer pokemon Rock Smash, so you can go deeper in caves and get passed obstacles like fallen rocks. Now go on, I know yer anxious to get to the gym, just like the others." he said kindly, shooing me away with his hand.

_What a strange guy_ I thought to myself as I left, waving at him over my shoulder. As I moved down the path, I spotted two trainers up ahead, the both of them looking up and down the path. "Great, more trainers." I groaned. I didn't want to get into another battle, so I stepped off the path and sneaked around them. It almost worked perfectly, if I hadn't disturbed a group of sleeping Zubat.

The screeching was amazing, echoing off the walls and in my ears. I clapped my hands over them in an effort to keep from going deaf as the bats started flying all around the cave. I noticed the two trainers I was avoiding run off away form the swarm. They flew around and around, before one of them seemed to notice me. It flew right at me, maw open, ready to latch onto me. I reached down and released Rebecca, yelling for her to use Tackle and hoping that she heard me over the racket the Zubat were causing.

She seemed to get my drift since she launched herself into the air, knocking the offending Zubat down to the ground. The rest screeched in alarm and flew away, going farther into the cave system. I noticed that the one I knocked down was still there, trying weakly to get airborne again. I quickly tossed a pokeball and caught it. "Guess that's another one for the box later. Good job Rebecca." I muttered, putting the ball away for now and focusing on getting the hell out of this cave. The Bidoof nodded, following me at her own leisurely pace.

After a short march, I arrived at the exit to the cave. The sun was beginning to set again, another day lost to battling and traveling. I decided to find the nearest PokeCenter and just shut down. Stumbling down the steps to the city proper, I asked for directions until I found the center. Checking into the room, I automatically released everyone and fell onto the bed, immediately falling asleep.

**So that's one thing I always wondered about the pokemon games. Why do you need the badge to use the HM out of battle? I know that for gameplay purposes it's to lock you out of certain areas until you beat the gym, but what about the people that don't use pokemon, or the trainers that don't care about the gyms? Food for thought.**

** And another thing. Some of the held items are extremely awkward for certain pokemon to use. Like the Quick Claw. It looks like a severed claw. How the hell does this help my pokemon move faster? And how do pokemon even use it? Does it fit over one of their claws? What if the pokemon doesn't have claws, like Franklin? This universe is full of plot holes and bullshit. Isn't it grand?**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8: Training Day**

I awoke early the next morning to the biggest racket I've ever heard in my life. Loud screeches filled the room on top of the noise of multiple bodies fumbling around. I started to get up and was rewarded with something flying right into my face. The creature and I flailed around, trying desperately to untangle ourselves. Eventually, I managed to get a hold of it and held it at arms length, glaring daggers at the attacker. It was the Zubat I had caught at the gate, and she looked really mad about being manhandled like she was.

Looking past her, I saw the rest of my group standing on the floor, watching me. The room itself was a complete mess, objects scattered around and my bag lying open on the floor. One of the Potions had been shattered, liquid medicine now seeping into the carpet. _Great, I'm gonna have to pay for that._

"Franklin, what happened?" I asked, deciding to get the truth out of him first before questioning the Zubat.

"She woke up before the rest of us and started flying around!" Franklin explained. "She started that screeching thing and that woke everyone else up and Sora tried to calm her down but they ran into each other and then everything went crazy!" His eyes were still wide from the shock of the experience, which was probably terrifying to the introverted turtle.

I nodded and turned my attention to the Zubat in my hands, still struggling to get away. "Now look, I'm gonna need you to calm down okay?" I said in a soothing voice. That seemed to register to her and she stopped moving around as much, turning her eyeless head towards me, ears forward. "That's better. Now, let me get you up to speed..." I explained the situation to her, all about Nuzlocke and the dangers we faced. "Oh, and I've decided to call you Moka. Any questions so far?" I asked.

"Nope." she said. "Would ya let me go now? I don't like being grabbed." I freed her and she flapped around the room, giving off soft pinging noises to find out where she was going. Making her way to the ceiling fan, she clung to it with her feet and hung upside down, wrapping her wings around herself.

"Why'd you make such a mess?" I groaned, getting up and starting to clean everything.

"I was scared. Didn't know where I was. You try being blind your whole life and see how you react to waking up in a strange place." Moka muttered. I couldn't argue with her so I focused my attention on cleaning and getting ready for the day.

"Alright guys, we've got three objectives today. One, find new teammates in the surrounding areas. I know for a fact we can get two more. Two, we need to organize a team together and figure out who's going to get boxed. Three, the new team is going to train with me for the rest of the day to be ready to take on Roark tomorrow. Any questions?" I asked, looking at my pokemon. They all either shook their heads or didn't react, which I took as a no. "Alright then, everyone back in your pokeballs and we'll get started." I said, recalling the lot of them.

As it turns out, the "new area" north of Oreburgh was just a small boxed canyon with some dry grass to serve as a hiding spot for wild pokemon. There was more above the small cliff, but it was impossible to climb safely. _Last thing I want is to break my neck_ I thought, turning towards the clump of grass. I released Mufasa and pointed ahead. "Find out who's hiding in there." I told him. He nodded and slinked into cover, vanishing almost immediately. A short while later, a yelp came form within the brush and a small gray humanoid jumped up. It delivered a kick at whatever was attacking it, and I heard a hiss that confirmed it was Mufasa. The Machop looked excited about the prospect of a fight, which didn't really surprise me. Most fighting-types would probably be hot-blooded.

"Mufasa, use Spark!" I called. The little blue cat had recently learned the electric-type move and I wanted to see how well he could use it in battle. Small blue sparks leaped out of the brush a short distance away form the Machop and Mufasa leaped forward, electricity flying off of his body. He tackled the wild pokemon, the electricity putting an extra dose of damage to the attack. The Machop retaliated with a chop, smacking Mufasa solidly in the side. The cat hissed again and retreated into the bushes. The Machop was unsteady on his feet, but his grin never left his face. A toss of a pokeball later, he was mine. "Welcome to the team Armstrong." I said as the pokeball teleported to the PC system.

Some time later, I was walking cautiously through the mines at the southern end of town. I had Franklin out at the time, hoping his grass-typing would prevent any serious damage if we ran into a rock-type like I was expecting. Sure enough, we turned a corner and spotted a small group of Geodude. At the sight of me, and more importantly, the pokemon at my side, most of the rock pokemon fled. One stayed behind, however, watching us curiously.

"Alright Franklin, that's the one we have to catch." I said encouragingly. "Let's start off with a Tackle." As Franklin charged forward, I watched the Geodude closely. _Can't risk using any grass-type attacks like Absorb, and Mufasa's electric attack won't hurt a Geodude. Have to grind it out with Tackle._

Franklin slammed into the rock head on, doing only minimal damage. The Geodude seemed to be caught off guard with this sudden attack, and started flinging mud everywhere. _Why is it using Mud Sport? _I thought to myself, shielding my clothes as best I could from the onslaught of dirt. Franklin surged forward with another tackle, undeterred by the Geodude's display. Hitting it again, I noticed it appeared much weaker than it had before. _Must have been a critical hit! My lucky day_ I thought, throwing out another pokeball and making my second catch of the day.

Some time later, I had my team lined up in front of me. I had placed Moka and Rose in the box, deciding that I shouldn't use multiples of the same type, spread out my advantage. I had explained the basics of the challenge to the newcomers, and was now thinking about how best to train everyone for the gym. Franklin, Mufasa, Sora and Rebecca watched me pace back and forth with limited interest. The Machop, Armstrong, seemed excited about the whole situation. After hearing about the challenge, he had grinned widely. "The perfect chance to test my abilities against the strongest opponents. What an opportunity!" he had cried, proudly flexing his small muscles.

The Geodude, who I named Lin after discovering she was female, was less concerned about the challenge as she was about her teammates. She kept moving around them, poking and prodding and inspecting them for some reason she didn't decide to share with anyone else. When she got to Mufasa, his intimidating glare was enough to make her hesitate, before relenting, though looking very annoyed by it.

I stopped my pacing and looked back at my team. "Okay guys, and gals," I added, when Sora gave me a look. "here's what we're going to do. The surrounding areas are hard to use as training grounds but they're all we've got. So we're gonna make the best of it. Mufasa, Sora, Rebecca!" I said, pointing to the three of them. "You're going to be the hardest to train, so you're going first. We're gonna go back to Route 207 and battle the Machop and Ponyta there. As for the rest of you," I added, looking at Lin, Franklin and Armstrong. "Once they're done, we're going back into the mines and battling all the Geodude and Onix we can find. You all have type advantage against rocks, so we'll be using that to our advantage in the gym as well."

Suddenly, Lin raised a stony hand. "Uh, there's a bit of a problem there." she stated. "I don't actually have any advantage. The best move I've got is Tackle and that's not gonna do squat against another rock-type."

I nodded. "That's true. But that was before I did _this_." I said, withdrawing the HM case from my pack and popping it open. "I was fiddling with this earlier, and it turns out I can still use it to teach the move, I just can't use it repeatedly without the badge. So here, one fighting-type move coming right up." I said, putting the disk to her forehead. She closed her eyes and the brown disk glowed softly. A few seconds later, the glow faded and her eyes fluttered open again. She flexed her arms and grinned. "Cool. Can't wait to see what other awesome things you've got in that bag." she said.

The actual training went much better than I thought it would. The team at Route 207 didn't run into any real trouble, finding more Machop and Ponyta than Geodude, which was a bonus. The best part of the day was near the end of the session. All three of them were sitting with me on the side of the path, exhausted form their long day of training. I was about to put them all in their pokeballs and head down to the mine when it happened. First it was a soft glow. Then brighter, then even brighter as all three of them lit up like a Christmas tree. Mufasa grew larger, his mane growing out more. Sora also grew larger, the feather that stuck up at the top of her head curling around in a sort of plume. Rebecca was the largest transformation, her tail growing larger and flatter, and sitting back onto her hind legs.

When the light faded, the Shinx, Starly and Bidoof I had caught were all gone. In there place was a Luxio, Staravia and Bibarel. I stared in shock at the three of them, amazed that they would all evolve together like that.

"Wow guys! Congrats!" I said, rubbing Mufasa's ears. He purred softly before shaking me off and moving away from me, looking irritated. I chuckled, then looked over at Rebecca. "So, you're a Bibarel now huh? Think you can use Water Gun yet, or do you want to practice on some Geodude in the mines first?" She answered by shooting a large jet of water into the air, causing it to splash down on all of us. Mufasa got the worst of it, being both a cat and an electric-type, he was shorted out slightly and pissed off for the rest of the day. "I'll take that as a yes." I muttered, returning the group to their pokeballs.

While no one evolved, the second group's training session went just as well. With their type advantages, they tore through the mine quickly, getting stronger with every Karate Chop, Absorb and Rock Smash. We found some workers on break and battled their Machops for some added training. One of the workers came over from his station and watched. "That was a great match." he called, walking over after Armstrong had out wrestled another Machop for the victory. "I take it you're training to challenge my gym?" he asked.

The revelation that it was Roark shook me up a bit but I recovered quickly enough. I barely recognized him with all the dust coating his skin and uniform. "Yep. Getting ready to challenge you tomorrow." I said.

Roark nodded eagerly. "That's great!" he exclaimed. "Two tough challengers in as many days. I can't wait." He wandered off deeper into the mine, waving at me as he went. I waved back, a little confused as to who he was talking about. I shrugged and went back to my training. As the sun was setting on Oreburgh, I trudged back to the PokeCenter, tired but satisfied. "Tomorrow's going to be a great day." I said to Franklin, who nodded as I entered the room I had rented. I released the pokemon, and watched silently as Franklin and the mine group congratulated the others on evolving.

"Wow, you look really cool Mufasa!" Franklin said, walking around the regal cat. Mufasa didn't show any reaction to the compliments outwardly, putting more attention into grooming himself, but I knew he was loving the attention. The moment didn't last very long, since Armstrong decided that was the right time to intervene.

"You still look weak if you ask me." he said haughtily. "Look at him! All thin and lanky. No _real_ power in his limbs." He flexed slightly to prove his point.

Mufasa glanced over at the Machop before going back to his grooming. It was enough of a reaction from the stoic cat that I knew a fight was starting to brew. "Armstrong that's enough." I said. "You're all equally strong in your own way. Mufasa may be weaker than you physically, but I highly doubt you can match Mufasa in speed and I _know_ you wouldn't fare as well in a fight against a flying-type."

My words seemed to diffuse the situation, both of the trouble makers letting it drop. Meanwhile, Sora was chatting with Rebecca about something. I decided to listen in.

"I know what you mean, he's so immature." Rebecca said, glancing at Armstrong. "I mean, Mufasa's much better looking anyway, he's just jealous."

Sora shook her head. "I've known Mufasa a little longer than you have and trust me. He can be immature when he wants."

I was brought out of this conversation my a sudden howl. I spun around and saw the source of the commotion. Apparently not wanting to miss an opportunity to satisfy her curiosity again, Lin had grabbed Mufasa by the tail and pinned him to the ground before looking him over. "Get off of me this instant or I will make you regret it." the cat hissed.

"I'd like to see you try furry." Lin boasted, tightening her grip on the electric-type. "The way I see it, the best you can do right now is try to electrocute me, and all those fancy sparks don't mean squat to me. So you're just gonna have to sit there and take it mister 'I'm to high and mighty to talk to the peasants.'" She then resumed poking and prodding the poor cat.

"He might not be able to do anything Lin, but _I _can." Franklin said. This took my by surprise. One, the shy turtle was being very brave, and attribute I've started to notice more and more in him. Two, he was actually _threatening_ someone, which was much more worrying than the first.

"Lin, leave Mufasa alone." I ordered. "Go bother Armstrong if you're looking for a wrestling match." The Geodude released her prey and moved away, sulking that her fun was over. The cat stretched his sore muscles before jumping up onto the desk, keeping an eye on the rock-type at all times. I stepped over to Franklin and patted his head. "Good job breaking them up." I said. He smiled and walked over to Sora while I climbed into the bed. _What am I going to do with this crazy group_ I thought before lulling off to sleep. _It's like having six children._

The next morning I awoke, thankfully _not_ because of a commotion caused by my miscreant pokemon. I gathered everything together and woke my team, the usual grogginess coming from most of them. Franklin and Sora were the only ones who ever got up quickly, which shouldn't really surprise me considering their typing. Mufasa always took as long as he wanted, which was why he almost always ended up being put in his pokeball asleep, and Rebecca was the same way. As it turned out, Lin was also slow to wake, but she managed to actually wake up before I started using the pokeballs. Armstrong was groggy before he started doing pushups, which woke him up quickly, ready for action.

I left the PokeCenter and went straight for the gym. I wanted to get the battle over with and get back to Jublife before the day was over. As I turned the corner onto the gyms street, I saw a familiar face walking away form it. "Hey Barry!" I called, waving.

Barry jumped slightly, looking up from something in his hand and waving cheerfully when he caught sight of me. "Hey Nick! Going to challenge the gym?" he asked as he walked over, a smug skip in his step.

"Yep. I imagine you already have your badge." I said. He nodded furiously.

"Yes I did!" he said proudly, showing me the Coal Badge in his hand. "Got it yesterday as a matter of fact. I was just hanging out around the gym, hoping to see you before you challenged Roark." he explained at my questioning glance.

"So how'd you do it? It had to have been tough with two pokemon weak to rock-types." I asked, glancing at his belt and noting that he still only had two pokemon.

Barry shook his head. "Not that bad really. I just trained _really_ hard for it. William and George evolved and I just used George's new Mach Punch move to win!" he said cheerfully. I cringed at hearing that the blonde had such a powerful move on his side and knew how to use it, but it faded quickly.

"Good for you man! I'll see you later, I've got a badge to get." I said, thumping him on the back lightly before continuing down the street. I stood before the large building, designed in the standard gym form, like a small arena form my world. The roof was painted brown to match the rock-types Roark used. I took a deep breath and opened the door.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9: Roark the Rock**

I stepped inside the gym, taking a few moments for my eyes to adjust to the dim lighting. Getting my bearings, I saw that I was at the bottom of a small rocky crag, with a path leading straight to the summit. There was another path that serpentined around the building, which I assumed would be the path with no gym trainers on it. _Screw that, I'm here to battle_ I thought, heading directly up the straight path. Sure enough, there were two trainers on the path but Lin had enough experience battling other Geodude that they weren't a problem at all. Reaching the top, I found a large flat battle area carved into the mountain. Standing at the other end was Roark, still dressed in mining gear but no longer covered in dust and grim.

"You're an early riser. I can respect that. Gotta get the work done as fast as possible, right?" Roark said, reaching for a pokeball. He tossed it lightly into the air and a Geodude popped out. _Yeah, like I haven't seen a thousand of them already_ I thought sourly, sending out Franklin. Roarks face fell immediately at the sight of the grass-type. "Oh man, you started with Turtwig?" he whined. "That sucks, but I'm not gonna give up yet! Geodude, Tackle!"

"Razor Leaf before it gets here." I called. Franklin had recently learned the move and had found it was devastating against rock/ground-types like Geodude. The little turtle whipped his head around, throwing sharp leaves from the small branch that grew from his skull. Since the Geodude was rushing forward, there was nowhere for him to run. The leafs struck him full in the face, sending him tumbling across the arena, fainted.

Roark sighed, returning the fallen pokemon. Without a word, he sent out his next pokemon. The large Onix stretched across the whole arena, roaring a challenge to Franklin and myself. The brave little grass-type roared right back, which was honestly less than impressive compared to the Onix. "Alright Franklin, same plan as last time. Razor Leaf!" I said. Franklin whipped his head back again to unleash another round of sharp leaves.

"Onix, Stealth Rock." Roark commanded. That took me off guard, as the giant rock snake roared, flexing the boulders that made up it's body. Small chunks of rock flew off of him and scattered across the arena floor. They stood and floated, but didn't move beyond that. _Well that's not good_ I thought as Franklin's attack hit home and fainted the larger pokemon. _If I switch someone in, they'll be worse off than if I left Franklin in. But I don't want to just use Franklin, that's unfair to the rest of the team. _I sighed in defeat as I recalled Franklin. "Sorry about this Armstrong, but you can do it." I muttered, tossing the Machop's pokeball.

As soon as he was done materializing, the jagged stones flew across the arena, slamming into him and forcing him to take a knee. It didn't do a lot of damage, but it did enough for Armstrong to feel it. "You okay Armstrong?" I asked, genuinely concerned for him. "I'm fine. It's nothing I can't handle." he grunted, getting to his feet and taking a fighting stance. "Let's do this!"

Roark grinned. "Your Machop is pretty tough. Sadly, so is my last pokemon. Cranidos!" he cried, sending out the small fossil pokemon. It stood half a foot taller than Armstrong, easily up to my waist. It's stony skin was gray in the front which faded into blue across his tail. He had spikes circling his skull, which had a shiny blue plate over it, perfect for ramming things.

Armstrong didn't falter upon seeing the bigger pokemon. In fact, I think it made him more excited for the coming brawl. I honestly worry about him sometimes. "Armstrong, Karate Chop!" I called. "Cranidos, Headbutt!" Roark ordered.

Both pokemon took off, running straight at each other. Cranidos' head was bowed, coming right at Armstrong with the plate. Thanks to the fighting-types ability, No Guard, I knew both attacks would hit. What I didn't expect was the savagery of the blows. Cranidos hit first, slamming it's skull into Armstrong's chest. For a heart-stopping second, I thought the blow had killed him. But the Machop grabbed onto the rock-types head, holding it in place for a brutal Karate Chop into it's side. He released his hold and both pokemon stepped back, each one breathing hard. A quick glance at my PokeTech confirmed what I already suspected. Both pokemon were barely hanging in there, which meant more to me that it did to Roark.

"Armstrong, that's enough, come back." I ordered, recalling him with the pokeball. He seemed slightly mad that the fight was over for him, but relented and returned. Roark called the Cranidos over to him and administered a Potion while I tossed out my next pokemon. Roark decided that his pokemon was ready to go and looked up at my choice. His face fell again. "Do you have _any_ pokemon that don't have a type advantage?" he asked, glaring at Rebecca the Bibarel.

"Yeah actually, but I'm not gonna be using them against you." I said smugly. "Water Gun Rebecca!" I called and the torrential blast of water was enough to put the Cranidos down for the count, Potion or no Potion. Roark sighed and returned his pokemon, digging into his pocket as he walked across the ring.

"That was a good match, or at least, I'm obligated to say that." he said cheerfully enough. "Here's the Coalbadge. Take this complimentary TM as well. It's got Stealth Rock in it, which I'm sure you already know about." he said, gesturing to the fallen stones. I nodded, taking the disk and the badge from him. I stored the badge in a special case I bought at the PokeCenter, with small indents for all of the regions badges.

"Thanks Roark." I said, patting him on the back lightly. "No hard feelings, huh? I was just lucky to get those two on top of Franklin." I left the gym after that, stopping by the PokeCenter to heal Armstrong and grab my stuff, already packed and ready to go. I made my way back to the Oreburgh Gate, stepping back into the small tunnel. Immediately, I found the two trainers I had saw earlier, before the swarm of Zubat ran them out of the cave. They caught sight of me too, unfortunately.

"Hey, a trainer! Let's have a battle!" the boy said cheerfully, releasing a Starly. The girl nodded, sending out a Bidoof.

"Let's get this over with." I sighed, sending out Sora. The two under-leveled pokemon were no match for the evolved Staravia. Even when the boy sent out a Shinx, Sora was to quick for it and a Quick Attack sent it packing. I collected my winnings and ventured farther down the path. Finding the split where I met the Hiker, I noticed he was absent. Shrugging, I started toward the exit before stopping, looking down the side path. "Nothing ventured, nothing gained." I shrugged, stepping off the beaten path and moving deeper into the cave. I released Lin, having her clear the path of fallen rocks. It wasn't long before my path was blocked off, a small lake keeping me from moving deeper. It wasn't a total loss though. I found a large pearl I could sell and a TM, dusty but usable. My mood fouled a bit when my PokeTech reported it was Flash.

Exiting the cave, I quickly made my way down Route 203, noticing the sun was beginning to go down. _I must've taken more time in the cave than I thought. _I arrived at the edge of the city just as the sky turned purple and the cities lights came on. I walked through the now familiar streets, hoping to get to the PokeCenter as soon as I could. I was interrupted by a hand grabbing my shoulder and dragging me into a nearby alley.

"What the hell!?" I yelped, automatically releasing Mufasa from his pokeball. The 3 foot tall cat roared a challenge, small sparks flying off his mane. The owner of the hand yelped, identifying himself as a male, and let me go. I dashed over to Mufasa's side, turning around to face my attacker. "Of all the- you again?" I asked, exasperated.

The "secret agent" from before, Looker, was standing in front of me, cradling his hand despite not being injured. His eyes shifted quickly from Mufasa to me and back again. "So! You return to the scene of your crime!" he accused suddenly.

"Scene of the-I have no idea what you're talking about man!" I shouted, throwing my hands up in frustration. "I'm not part of Team Galactic! I'm just a random trainer!" Mufasa growled lightly, daring the shifty man to make a move.

"I never mentioned Team Galactic!" Looker said excitedly. "That proves your guilt! Submit to authority or I'll have to use force!" he announced, withdrawing the handcuffs again.

"Try it, and I'll have Mufasa here chew your balls off." I threatened. The cat glanced up at me, clearly not wanting to touch any part of the crazy man. I shrugged. "Or any part he wants, I'm not exactly picky." I added.

Looker glanced back down at Mufasa again, eyes lingering on the bared fangs. He was silent for a while before putting the handcuffs away. "Someone who nicknames their pokemon couldn't be a part of Team Galactic." he muttered. He seemed almost depressed that I wasn't a criminal.

"Glad you got it through your head. Now if you'll excuse me, I'd like to get to the PokeCenter without getting attacked again." I said, turning and getting as far away form the trench-coated man as I could. He didn't pursue me, so I had no choice but to assume that he actually did realize I wasn't a crook. Regardless, I kept Mufasa out to ward off any other crazy secret agents. I let out a sigh of relief when I caught sight of the PokeCenter. Checking in, I did my usual ritual of releasing all my pokemon before climbing into bed. Before I could get to sleep, I listened to them talking amongst themselves.

"Congratulations you three!" Sora announced. "Gym battles must be scary, all those powerful pokemon."

"Oh sure, ignore the new guy, not like I did anything." Lin pouted. "Not like I took out _both_ of those trainers _by myself_." Her voice was thick with pride and annoyance that the others ignored her contribution.

"I didn't mean to exclude you." Sora said gently. "You helped, but the others were the ones who battle Roark, not you." she chided.

"It was nothing. I want a bigger challenge next time." Armstrong boasted. I could practically hear him flexing his muscles, his usual snarky grin on his face.

"But aren't you the only one who didn't win Armstrong?" Rebecca asked, yawning at the end of her question.

"Winning has nothing to do with challenge." Armstrong growled. "That Cranidos almost went down with one blow. I want a tough fight, one that won't end to quickly!"

"Don't you remember the situation we're in?" Franklin asked. "If you push yourself to hard, you'll die!"

There was an uncomfortable silence for a while after that. Surprisingly, Mufasa was the one to break it. "It is not when you die, but how, that matters." he said wisely. "If Armstrong wishes to loose to a tougher opponent, who are we to stop him?"

"Mufasa! That's harsh!" Sora scolded. "How can you shrug off a comrades death like that! This is serious!"

"Besides, who said anything about wanting to loose?" Armstrong said. "I want to beat every opponent that comes before me, no matter who it is! I'll be the strongest pokemon who ever lived. Count on it." He grew quiet after that, probably going to sleep. Rebecca's soft snores were already filling the room.

"What a meat-head." Lin huffed. "There's more to life than being the strongest."

"That doesn't mean he's wrong." Franklin argued. "I mean, I don't want to be the strongest Turtwig, but isn't that a good goal?"

There was a slight flapping sound as Sora flew up to perch on the desk. "You're both right." she said calmly. "Being the strongest isn't a bad goal, but there are other things to put your efforts towards. You just need to find something that'll make you happy." This seemed to be the end of the conversation, as no one said anything more. There were a few sounds of the team moving around, settling in for the night.

Just before I fell to sleep, I overheard a soft voice. "Something that'll make me happy." Franklin mused. "I wonder what I should do?" I didn't hear more, fading away into sleep.

The next day I woke up to find Franklin already awake. "Hey buddy, what're you doing up so early?" I yawned, stepping over Rebecca's sleeping form and making my way to the bathroom.

"I was just thinking." he said coyly. He seemed to be avoiding the subject and I wasn't having that.

"About what your goal should be?" I asked, clearly shocking the turtle with my question. "I overheard you guys talking last night." I explained.

Franklin looked down at the floor. "It's hard." he admitted. "I don't want to be the strongest like Armstrong does. But I don't really know what else I want to do."

I thought for a while, brushing my teeth slowly while we brainstormed. "Didn't you say something about seeing the world before?" I asked, spitting into the sink to clear the froth.

Franklin nodded. "Yeah, but will that make me happy?" he asked.

The question stumped me. "I can't answer that Franklin." I said honestly. "You're the only one who can." I finished my morning chores in silence, waking everyone else up as usual. Franklin helped, nudging Rebecca and Lin awake with his nose. I recalled everyone but Sora, opening the window and letting her fly out. She was waiting for me outside as I left the center, hovering above me as we made our way north, towards Floaroma town according to the map. I looked up at the large bird waving at her to draw her attention. "So I overheard you all talking last night." I said.

She nodded. "I figured you were awake." she said. "Anything to add?" she asked.

"Not really. I just want you to know that what you said about goals really got to Franklin." I replied. "He doesn't know what he wants to do with himself. And all this talk about dieing in challenge could be making it worse. I just want you to tone it down around him, he's still young." Sora nodded in agreement, rising up in the air signaling the end of the conversation. We made our way through town, retracing the steps I took with Franklin before we caught Rose. It didn't take long to arrive on the outskirts of town.

"There's trouble up ahead!" Sora called down. She banked to the right, circling around to hover above my right shoulder.

"What kind of trouble?" I asked, picking up the pace a bit. My answer came when I heard raised voices, two of which were familiar.

"Listen up gramps, give us what we want and we won't hurt your pretty little assistant there." a high-pitched male voice sneered.

"And let you abscond with my research? Preposterous!" came the voice of Professor Rowan. Coming over a small hill, I saw the Professor himself, standing behind Dawn and holding his briefcase. Dawn had Lizbeth out of her pokeball, and both the girl and the pokemon were trying their best to look intimidating. They didn't seem to be doing a good job, if the sinister expressions on their opponents faces were anything to go by.

Dressed in the most ridiculous spandex suits I could imagine, two men with neon blue hair were blocking the path forward. As if the bad bowl cuts weren't enough of a clue, the jumpsuits had a stylized "G" on the breast. _Team Galactic!_ I thought sourly. _Where's that crazy bastard Looker when you need him?_


	10. Chapter 10

** Short chapter today, my writing program has been acting up and I want to get it fixed before I continue with the story.**

**Chapter 10: Team Galactic**

I quickly ran over to the group, sliding to a stop next to Dawn. "Hold on, two against one isn't fair at all!" I said in what I assumed was a smooth voice. Sora landed in front of me next to Lizbeth. "Yeah, back off!" she cried, though nobody but Lizbeth and I understood her. The two grunts took a step back, clearly concerned by these new developments.

Dawn, meanwhile, was ecstatic. "Thank Arceus you showed up Nick!" she said. "I didn't think Lizbeth and I could have held them off for very long." The water-type glanced up at her trainer, an offended look on her face. "Not that you aren't the best Lizbeth!" Dawn quickly backpedaled. "But, I mean, we _were_ outnumbered."

Rowan merely stared at me, gray eyes cold. "How's your team coming young man?" he asked gruffly. I flinched, remembering his harsh words, and the death that had followed shortly after. "Fine." I answered curtly, bringing my attention back to the criminals in front of me. Rowan's stare never left me. If anything, his eyes turned colder.

"Anyway, let's get back to these two assholes." I said. "What's your problem? Trying to rob an old man and a girl? That's low."

The grunts took exception to my continued insults. "Shut your mouth boy!" one shouted. "It doesn't matter if you have two trainers or a thousand, Team Galactic isn't gonna loose to you!" He grabbed a pokeball off of his belt and released a Stunky. The purple skunk pokemon had white markings over it's eyes and back, and bared it's fangs at the two bird pokemon.

"That's right, we're unstoppable!" the other grunt shouted, seeming like he was encouraging himself more than threatening us. He sent out his own pokemon, a Glameow. The cat pokemon looked over it's opponents, a bored expression on its face.

I decided to make the first move. "Sora, Wing Attack! Target the Glameow!" I cried. The large bird took to the air, circling around shortly before flying at the gray cat with incredible speed, her wings glowing white.

Just before impact, I heard a bark of "Use Fake Out to intercept!" and watched helplessly as the Stunky came out of nowhere, stepping between Sora and the Glameow. The little skunk stood on it's hind legs, clapping it's front paws together. A shock wave crashed out from his paws The shock-wave slammed into Sora, doing minimal damage, but stopping her in her tracks. She hovered for a second before flying back into the air.

"Okay Glameow, let's get in there too! Fury Swipes!" the other grunt commanded. The thin cat leaped forward, slashing Lizbeth, the only opponent within reach with its claws. It landed 3 quick blows before retreating, neatly dodging a counterstrike from the Piplup.

"Hang in there Lizbeth, use Water Gun!" Dawn ordered. Lizbeth let loose a jet of water, knocking the Glameow back several feet. The cat didn't like getting wet as much as the next cat and howled and cried, shaking itself off as best it could. "Hey!" the grunt shouted. "Quit your whining! Get back in there and finish this!" The cat hissed at its trainer, but obeyed, slinking back into the fray.

Meanwhile, Sora had come back around, deciding without my commands to take the fight to the Stunky that had blocked her attack earlier. The Quick Attack hit home, Sora's body slamming into Stunky's side. The Glameow moved to intercept Sora as she took to the sky again, but Lizbeth blocked her with a powerful Pound attack, punching the cat right in the jaw.

Sora wheeled around again, wings glowing with another Wing Attack. The Stunky steadied itself, and rolled at the last minute, trying to dodge the attack. It wasn't fast enough though, and Sora adjusted her trajectory, homing in on her target. The attack nailed the poison-type, knocking him back. However, the change in direction threw Sora off balance, and she tumbled to the ground.

Team Galactic took advantage of this immediately. "Stunky, use Fury Swipes now!" the grunt roared. Stunky leaped forward, claws flashing as he ripped and tore at Sora.

"Get away from her!" Dawn shouted. Lizbeth charged forward, intent on removing the Stunky from her friend, but the Glameow got in the way again. The Piplup chirped something fierce, nailing the gray cat with a vicious Pound attack. When she reached Sora, she drew back her fist for another Pound, but the Stunky jumped out of the way, backing off.

I watched, amazed as Sora got to her feet. "Are you okay girl?" I asked, stepping over and checking for injuries. Surprisingly, there weren't any serious wounds. I looked at her curiously for answers.

"His attacks were weak." she said simply. "I can finish this." I nodded and stepped back, giving her room. "Sora, Quick Attack!" I said. Sora flew forward with incredible speed, tackling the Stunky before he even knew what was happening. The purple pokemon slid back across the path, before lying still, fainted. I turned my attention to the Glameow and discovered, to my astonishment, that the Pound attack from Lizbeth earlier had knocked it out cold.

The grunts seemed to notice this too. They were seething, faces red with rage. "Unacceptable!" the lead grunt cried. "How can Team Galactic loose to a couple of useless trainers like you!?" he recalled his Stunky as his partner did the same. "You may have won this time but mark my words, we'll still succeed. Team Plasma will not fail!" he announced, running off into the distance, partner close behind. I had to fight the urge to say something witty after them, but I didn't want to sound like a corny action movie star.

Instead, I turned to face Dawn and Rowan. Dawn was busy fussing over Lizbeth, who wasn't even wounded. Rowan continued to stare at me. "What?" I asked, annoyed at the constant gaze.

The older man snorted, a halfway attempt at a chuckle. "It's interesting to watch you in battle Nuzlocker." he stated. I stared, trying to find the meaning of his words when a gasp interrupted my thoughts.

"No! Nick you aren't...?" Dawn asked, clearly upset by this revelation. Sheepishly, I took the glove off my right hand, showing her the mark. Sora lifted her wing, showing her own mark as well. Dawn's eyes widened. "I can't believe this!" she yelled suddenly, getting to her feet. I was taken aback by the sudden change in attitude from her. _When the hell did Dawn become so aggressive?_ I thought.

"How can you do that! Put your pokemon's lives in danger, for what!? A stupid challenge that no one will remember you for!? The way you battle, it's to reckless! Sora could have died there if Lizbeth hadn't knocked the Stunky away from her! How would you have felt then!? Answer me!" Dawn shouted, each word increasing in volume until she was practically screaming at me. She paused after the tirade to catch her breath and I took the opportunity to defend myself.

"I'm going to answer the easiest question first." I said. "I didn't react to the Stunky's attack because I knew Sora was tougher than that. I checked to make sure she was okay, and look, she's fine. As for the second question, how would I have felt? I would feel terrible. I didn't want any of my team to die."

Rowan's eyes narrowed. "I couldn't help but notice you used the word "didn't" there." he growled. Dawn suddenly looked conflicted, face torn between anger at me and sadness for the dead pokemon. I hesitated form answering, remembering his lecture from the Lab. Rowan seemed to notice this. "Would it have anything to do with the new sign in Route 201?"

I took a deep breath and nodded. "Yeah. That was Brittany, my first Bidoof." I said. "I haven't lost anyone since, I'm being careful." I said.

Rowan shook his head. "Being careful would have been never accepting the challenge in the first place!" he roared. "If the pokemon league would allow it, I would take back the Turtwig I gave you and all the pokemon you've caught since!" I glared at the professor, taking a defensive stance. To my surprise, Sora stepped between us and spread her wings, protecting me.

"Who are you to take us away form him!" she cried. "He may not be the best trainer in the world, but he's trying his best to take care of us! In the wild, we have to fight every day for our survival. How is that any different from this challenge? I know that some pokemon have it easy, like Franklin and Lizbeth there, but just because there's extra risk in our journey does _not_ make it any worse than yours!"

Rowan and Dawn stared at the Staravia, clearly not hearing a word she said. I sighed and quickly translated. That got me a couple of confused looks. "It's the mark. It let's me understand pokemon language. Only my pokemon though." I explained.

Rowan's eyes softened slightly. "Let me see the Turtwig." he said suddenly. I hesitated slightly, then gave in, returning Sora and releasing Franklin. He looked around, getting his bearings, when his eyes landed on Rowan. "Professor!" he shouted gleefully, running up to the old man and nudging his leg. "I haven't seen you in forever!"

"Hello Turtwig, or should I call you Franklin now?" Rowan asked, kneeling down to pet the turtle. His rough demeanor evaporating when faced with the pokemon he raised for so long. It was hard not to see him as a kind old man when he talked to Franklin. "I want to ask you something and I'll need your trainer to translate for me okay?" he asked. Franklin nodded, showing he understood. "Good. Franklin, are you happy with Nick, knowing the risk of his challenge?"

My heart sank. I remembered the conversation the team had had last night, and Franklin's problems today about finding what makes him happy. _What if he gives the wrong answer? Should I lie? No, that won't work..._ my mind raced to find a way out of this situation. Franklin's answer pulled my back to reality.

"Yep!" he said without hesitation, nodding to make sure Rowan understood. The Professor nodded, getting to his feet. "That's all I needed to hear. Dawn!" he barked suddenly. "We're going back to Jublife. I need to report Team Galactic to the authorities." he said, already walking down the path to the city. Dawn looked conflicted, like she still wanted to chew me out for being a Nuzlocker, but she relented, recalling Lizbeth and jogging to catch up to Rowan's longer stride.

I watched them go for a short while before looking down at Franklin. "Did you really mean that?" I asked. "That you're happy traveling with me?"

The grass-type nodded again. "Uh-huh. I thought about it while I was in the pokeball. I decided that I want to travel the world with you. That's my goal." he said.

I grinned. "That's a lofty goal." I teased, moving down the path toward Jagged Pass. "You'll have to work hard to achieve that."

Franklin looked up at me, confused. "Why do I have to work hard?" he asked.

My grin widened. "Cause maybe I want to travel with Mufasa. Maybe I want the strongest on my team to be my traveling partner." I winked at him to let him know I was kidding.

Franklin grinned in return. "Then I'll just have to be your strongest pokemon!" he shouted gleefully. We laughed and took off down the path, ready for any challenge that awaited us.

We had no idea what was coming.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11: A Poisonous Encounter**

Since it was still the middle of the day, I decided to press on to Floaroma Town. Moving through Ragged Pass, I found only Geodude that, since I had Lin, I couldn't catch. Not getting a new pokemon to choose from didn't put a damper on my mood as Franklin and I made our way through the cave, clearing out the rock-types with Razor Leaf and Absorb to keep his health up. Eventually, we made it to the upper section of Route 204, finding some trainers waiting for us. When it was all said and done, we made it to Floaroma with no real trouble. I decided to rest up for the night, checking in at the local PokeCenter. Being a small town with only one Center, the place was packed. I didn't complain though, managing to get a room for myself.

Later that night, I awoke to the sound of a large crowd of people talking. My team was also awake, except for Rebecca who wouldn't be roused from her sleep by a freight train. I recalled everyone and made my way downstairs to see what the commotion was about.

"This is an outrage!" an older man shouted. "Where are the police at a time like this!?"

"I'm sorry sir, we're doing everything we can to bring a peaceful resolution quickly." Nurse Joy responded, clearly flustered from all of the commotion. I entered the reception room for the Center and found it filled to the brim with angry people, trainers and townsfolk alike.. They were all clearly agitated about something.

"I say we trainers go over there and teach these goons a lesson!" one green-haired trainer spoke up. His Sandslash stood next to him, flexing it's spines in agreement.

"That would only cause injuries and more problems!" Nurse Joy protested above the sounds of people cheering.

"What's going on?" I asked the nearest townsfolk, an old woman who seemed fed up with the whole situation.

"It's terrible deary. Those Team Galactic hoodlums have taken the Windworks hostage." she explained. "That place, and the factory, are our only means to get by. Without it, this town won't survive." she looked down at her feet, sighing in defeat. I turned my attention back to the discussion.

"So what if we get a little roughed up, it'll take more than a few Team Rocket wannabe's to beat me!" the green-haired man boasted.

"It's not you I'm worried about!" the nurse shouted. She gestured behind her and I saw a little girl, sitting on a bench and trying to hold back tears. "This girls father is being held hostage at the plant! What do you think would happen if they were to hurt him because you decided to attack!?"

The room fell silent, the green-haired man in particular looking angrily at the floor. They all knew that they couldn't do anything about the situation. A hand raised up and a voice called. "Ahem." That got everyone's attention.

"Look, I'm not from here, and I don't know how things work, but you can't leave the plant to those guys." an older man said. He turned to look at the nurse. "How long until the police arrive?" he asked.

She shook her head. "They would have to come up from Jublife, and I can't get a hold of them right now. It could take until noon tomorrow."

He nodded, then turned to the green-haired trainer. "Besides you and me, how many other strong trainers do we have?" he asked.

The trainer looked around the room, counting hands, including mine. "Seems like we've got about seven, including us." he said.

"Alright." the man said, turning to address the room. "We can't let them hold on to the factory, so let's go take it back from them." there was a cheer, that he waved down. "But, we need to be careful. We can't afford to hurt any hostages they might have. Let's go!" He led the way, moving outside and releasing a Lucario. The other trainers let out their pokemon, while I sent out Rebecca. She lazily looked up at me, still sleepy. "What's going on?" she asked.

"Team Galactic's taken over a nearby factory, we're going with these trainers to free the hostages." I said. The Bibarel nodded lazily, falling into step behind me. About half an hour later, we arrived at the factory, a large square steel building surrounded by windmills. The lights inside the building were still on, silhouettes of people moving back and forth over the windows.

"Alright," the leader of the group said, kneeling. Getting a closer look, I noticed he wore a blue suit with a wide-brimmed blue hat. Normally, that outfit would make him look ridiculous, but somehow he pulled it off. "there's guards posted around the building. Everyone pick a grunt, and take him down on my signal." We spread out, the green-haired trainer and I taking the two grunts at the back of the building. "Now!" a voice cried.

"Rebecca, Water Gun!" I shouted, pointing at the grunt with a Glameow. She stood on her hind legs, letting loose a blast of water with the force of a fire hose, knocking the two targets into the steel wall. Before the other grunt could react, the ground beneath him and his Stunky gave out, sending them crashing into the pit. The Sandslash from earlier dug out of the ground. "Good job Sandslash!" his trainer called.

We rushed into the building, taking the back door. We split up at the first hallway, deciding we'd cover more ground that way. I recalled Rebecca since she was starting to fall asleep and let Lin out for a while. She crushed the Zubats the grunts sent out with large chunks of the wall, letting loose a low level Magnitude against a Stunky. I eventually recalled her as well, letting her rest while I sent out Franklin.

Turning a corner, I found myself in front of some important looking doors. The labeled CONTROL ROOM was emblazoned on them with bold black letters. "The leaders has to be in here. C'mon Franklin." I called, running over. The doors burst open before I could get there, and a woman with a strange white dress walked through. She had red hair that seemed well kept except for a slight cow-lick that stuck up at the top. Under the white dress was a long-sleeve black shirt and white stockings, ending in large white boots. "So, _you're_ one of the brats that're making all that noise." she sneered, grabbing a pokeball from a pocket in the skirt. "I'm Commander Mars, one of the leaders of Team Galactic. Don't think you'll beat me as easily as those no-good grunts!" She tossed the pokeball, revealing a Zubat.

"Uh-oh!" Franklin said. "That Zubat looks strong Nick!" I nodded in agreement. "Come back, I'll let Sora take care of it." I said, recalling Franklin and letting the Staravia out. In the confined corridors, it was all they could do for the flying-types to hover in the air.

"Zubat, use Toxic!" Mars cried. My heart sank as the bat spat out a purple glob of poison. Sora tried to maneuver away, and if we had been battling anywhere else she would have avoided it, but the confined space wouldn't let her move and the attack hit her square in the chest. Immediately I could see the poisons effect start to work. Her wings flapped a little slower and her breathing got more ragged. "Sora, come back!" I called, reaching for her pokeball.

"No!" she snapped. "You'll just get someone else poisoned! I can beat him!" she cried, shooting forward and landing a vicious Wing Attack. The Zubat was knocked back into a wall, clearly on it's last legs. Before Sora could flap away, the Zubat latched onto her shoulder with it's teeth, gnashing on the muscle and feathers. Sora yelped in pain and alarm, slapping the bat away with another Wing Attack before collapsing on the floor. "Sora!" I shouted, rushing over to my fallen pokemon. A flash of red caught my eye and I barely avoided a swipe from a large cat's paw. I backed off as a Purugly stepped between me and Sora. I could tell that Sora was still breathing, but the poison was taking it's toll.

"Get out of the way." I snarled, releasing Mufasa. The little lion roared defiantly at the larger cat, who hissed back in return. They circled each other briefly before Mufasa pounced. Immediately, the Purugly clapped her paws together, releasing a shock-wave in a Fake Out attack. The blow stunned Mufasa enough for Purugly to evade his attack, scratching at his flank. Mufasa growled deep in his throat, launching a Spark attack and hitting the Purugly so hard, traces of electricity moved across it's fur. _It's Paralyzed!_ I realized, smirking and immediately planning around this new advantage.

"Mufasa, charge up for the next attack!" I ordered. The blue cat obeyed, gathering electricity from the air around it, giving off slight blue sparks.

Mars saw what was coming. "Purugly, quick! Get out of the way!" she ordered. The large cat tried to move, but the paralysis was set in, preventing it from getting away.

"End this! Spark!" I called. Mufasa rushed forward, claws outstretched as he let loose a super-charged Spark, zapping the ugly cat so much, it fainted almost immediately.

Mars scoffed, recalling her fallen pokemon. "You little brat, you'll pay for this!" she screeched, reaching for yet another pokemon. Just then, footsteps came from behind me and I turned to see the other trainers, led by the man in blue. "We heard the noise and came running. Is that the leader?" he asked, his Lucario growling next to him.

"Shit." Mars cursed, taking a step back. The doors behind her opened again, and a hunchbacked old man walked out. He had the air of a mad scientist about him, lab coat barely handing onto his shoulders and a large bald spot separating his long gray hair. He peered over his glasses at the collection of trainers before him. "Oh my, we seem to be in quite the pickle, don't we Mars?" he asked, in a surprisingly kind voice.

"Charon." she muttered. "Is everything ready?" He nodded. "Then we have nothing left to do here." she said, throwing down a ball. It exploded, revealing itself to be a smoke grenade instead of the pokeball I thought it was. Coughing, I tried to see through the smoke, but by the time it had cleared, the duo was long gone. I stomped my foot in frustration. "Dammit! We almost had them!" I yelled. I felt a furry hand on my shoulder and looked down to see the blue man's Lucario.

"You need to focus on more important things." it said. I gawked at it for a second, surprised that another pokemon would talk to me, before registering what he was saying. "Sora!" I yelped, rushing over to where the bird pokemon lay. The poison was working its way almost entirely through her system. I ripped my bag open and looked through it frantically, throwing random items out of it.

I reached the bottom of the bag before I realized that I had no Antidotes.

Desperate, I turned to the gathered trainers. "Does anyone have an Antidote? Please, she'll die without it!" The trainers all shook their heads and the green-haired trainer actually chuckled. "Are you new to pokemon kid? They don't die because of a poison status, she'll just faint. Take her to the center and get her healed up." I jumped to my feet and ripped my gloves off, grabbing his shirt with my left hand and shoving my right in his face.

"See this!?" I shouted, waving the Nuzlocke mark in front of him. "I'm a Nuzlocker. If she faints, she's _dead!_" I shoved him back and turned back to Sora. I grabbed a Potion off the ground next to me and sprayed her with it before gingerly picking her up. "I've got to get her to the Center. I have to." I mumbled, turning and running down the corridor. The trainers parted for me to pass without question. I ran as hard as I could, barely registering what was going on around me. I remember briefly seeing a man in a brown coat. I remember Mufasa running beside me, softly glowing so that I could see where I was going in the dark. After what felt like eternity, I arrived at the Center. I burst through the doors, startling the nurse and the little girl who was waiting with her. I handed Sora over to the nurse. "Please!" I gasped. "Please save her!"

** And so ends another chapter, and on a cliffhanger no less! So yeah, bit of a short one this week too, but I promise the next one will be longer. Also, I'm trying to speed up the story a little, since I noticed that at the current pace, this fic would be about 100 chapters long. I don't know about you, but that's to much for me, especially since it's part one in a series of four. So, I'll be editing the story slightly, like that mob attack on the Windworks in order to move the story along a bit faster. And most fights won't be described in detail, just important ones like Gyms and Team Galactic bosses. Until next time, peace =P**


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12: Facing Facts**

I don't remember much else about that night. I remember handing Sora over to Nurse Joy. I vaguely remember trudging up to my room and passing out on the bed, exhausted from the nights events. What I remember clearly is the rapid knocking on my door the next morning.

"Alright, alright, I'm up!" I groaned, getting to my feet and shuffling over to the door. I undid the latch and flung it open, revealing the man in the blue suit from the night before. "What?" I snapped.

He held his hands up defensively. "I don't want any trouble. I just wanted to return your backpack." he explained. He quickly picked the bag up off of the floor next to him and handed it to me. It took me a minute to remember that I had left it behind in my rush to get Sora to the Center. "Thanks." I said hoarsely, grabbing the bag and tossing it back into the room. I stretched my arms and stepped out of the door, closing it behind me. "Where are you going?" the man asked as I stalked down the hallway.

"To go check on Sora." I called over my shoulder. I heard the sound of muffled footsteps behind me and glanced over my shoulder, noticing he had caught up to me.

"My name's Riley by the way." he said, extending a hand. I awkwardly shook it, not even remotely slowing down on my march to the front desk. "I'm Nick." I replied.

He stepped forward, blocking my path suddenly. I stopped and glared up at him, angry that he would halt my progress. "Is there a problem?" I asked, hand itching to grab Mufasa's pokeball.

"Not for me." Riley replied coolly. "You pretty much announced to everyone last night that you're a Nuzlocker."

"Yeah, and?" I was getting more annoyed by this conversation every minute.

"Look, it's not my place to tell you how to raise your pokemon, but they are in danger just by being with you and you need to step up if they are going to survive." Riley growled, moving closer so we were inches away. "Even new trainers keep Antidotes on them at all times, and the way you handled that Galactic boss makes me think you're not new to this. And I pray that your Staravia survives because if she doesn't, that's on you."

I glared at the older man. "Look, I know I fucked up, I get it. But I am tired of everyone jumping on my case, telling me to shape up. I am doing the best I can. I had no idea she had a Zubat with her, let alone that it knew Toxic. I wasn't exactly expecting to attack a building filled with criminals last night. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go see Sora." I shoved past him, knocking him back a step as I made my way to the front desk. Nurse Joy saw me coming and quickly moved towards me, a clipboard in her hands.

"She's alive." she said preemptively. I felt my stomach unclench in relief. "She needs to stay in the care ward overnight and she'll be ready to go tomorrow." A strange look passed over the nurses face. "I have some questions though, regarding rumors the other trainers have been saying and that strange mark on your Staravia's left wing."

I sighed, already defeated by the events of today. "Yes, I'm a Nuzlocker. That's the mark on her wing."

The nurse nodded. "I suspected as much. In that case, I'll need you to fill out these forms and afterward I'll print out a new ID for you so the League knows you're undergoing the challenge." her tone had changed from a personal, friendly one to a stony buisiness-like manor. It was clear to me that she didn't approve of the challenge at all, and thought less of me because of it. I sighed again, taking the clipboard and pen from her. "Thanks." I muttered, as I sat down in a nearby chair and began filling out the forms.

A few hours later, I emerged from the Center, Armstrong by my side. I shielded my eyes from the suns glare before looking down at my new trainer ID. It was mostly exactly like my old one, a gold card with my picture and information. Only now, there was a large red bar cutting across the center. _I hope this doesn't mean I can't challenge gyms anymore_ I thought grudgingly, pocketing the card and heading off towards the nearby Meadow.

While filling out the forms I had decided that I might as well spend the day catching new pokemon. I might not ever use them, my team being pretty well balanced at the moment, but I wouldn't mind a new water-type, of which there were plenty around. In a short time, I arrived at Floaroma Meadow, a small clearing in the forest behind the town. It was filled with flowers off all kinds, creating a beautiful panorama of color. I gazed across the field, looking for any sign of movement. My eyes locked onto a small form in the distance, which revealed itself to be a Combee.

"Sweet, I've always wanted a Vespiquen." I muttered to myself. I motioned for Armstrong to go weaken the bug-type. He sped off, running low across the flowers. The disturbance alerted the Combee to his presence, and it fired off a Gust attack at him. Armstrong threw his arms up, taking the super-effective attack full force and not slowing down an inch because of it. He jumped up, snatching the bee out of the air and pinned it to the ground. I rushed over, pokeball already in my hand. However, as I approached, Armstrong jumped off of the Combee, letting it fly away in a daze.

"What the hell man, I wanted to catch that!" I yelled, shoving the pokeball back in my bag.

"Would have been a waste of a pokeball." Armstrong replied. "That Combee was a male. No Vespiquen for you."

I sulked, but had to agree with the gray humanoid. A male Combee was essentially, useless. "Alright, let's go to Route 205 then, see what we can find there."

As it turned out, there wasn't much to find. A large family of Bidoof was splashing in the pond right at the beginning of the route, destroying any chance I had of catching a new pokemon there. "Dammit! You useless bastards!" I shouted in frustration, kicking a rock off the wood bridge. It landed close to the group but they either didn't notice or didn't care about the attack, merely continuing to play in the water. "I hope a Floatzel eats you!" I barked, turning back and setting off towards the factory from yesterday.

Arriving at the factory, I noticed it was up and running again. People were busily running in and out of it, police tape stretched across the front door. Apparently the Jublife authorities had arrived earlier today and were investigating. Now that it was daylight, I could clearly see the sign in front, reading Valley Windworks. I moved towards a patch of tall grass growing near the back of the building.

It didn't take long to find something. A small pink blob caught my eye, and as I focused it was revealed to be a Shellos, sunning itself on a rock. "Dude, there's one. Sucks that it isn't a Buizel but I'll take what I can get." I muttered to Armstrong. He nodded and moved forwards, blatantly crashing through the brush to reach the wild pokemon. His total lack of stealth snapped it out of it's daze and it looked around for the source of the disturbance. Eyes latching onto the Machop moving towards it, the Shellos cried out in alarm and spat out a stream of water.

The Water Gun attack hit home, halting Armstrongs forward movement. As soon as the attack stopped, however, Armstrong shot forward, backhanding the pink pokemon off of it's rock. It bounced across the grass before settling a few feet away from me. Taking the chance and not wanting to risk fainting it, I tossed a pokeball. One, two, three, _click_. I smiled excitedly at the new catch, picking the ball up. "Welcome to the reserve team Trish." I said proudly as the ball glowed and faded away, moving the pokemon to the Box system.

I arrived back at the Center just in time for dinner. I let everyone out of their pokeballs and laid out some dishes for them to eat in the mess hall. I eventually sat down with my own food and started eating. My meal was sadly, interrupted.

"Hey, you're that Nuzlocker, right?" A voice asked. I glanced up to see the green-haired trainer from the night before, his Sandslash next to him.

I quickly gulped down the food in my mouth. "Yeah, but keep it quiet would you? I don't want to many people knowing about that."

"Sure, sure." he said, sitting across from me. "Y'know, I was thinking of taking the challenge myself not to long ago." I nodded, focusing my attention on my food. "Couldn't figure out how to make it work though." He stared at me pointedly.

I sighed. "Look man, I'm not going to tell you how to take the challenge. Even if I knew how to do it yourself, I wouldn't tell you. You saw what happened last night, Sora almost died on me. You shouldn't be so eager to let your pokemon die."

"You sayin' my pokemon are weak?" he suddenly growled, glaring down at me. The atmosphere quickly turned sour and the Sandslash next to him flexed it's spins menacingly. Immediately, Armstrong jumped up and walked up to the ground-type, cracking his knuckles. Glancing at my other pokemon, I noticed Lin and Rebecca were ignoring the confrontation while Franklin and Mufasa looked ready to intervene.

"No, I'm not." I replied, hoping to defuse the situation. "I'm saying you shouldn't risk it. What if you run into the situation I did? What if someone stronger than you comes around, looking for a battle? I'm saying that this challenge isn't something you should rush into blindly. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm done here." I scooped up my plate and left the table, whistling for my pokemon to do the same.

The next day, I woke up early, hoping to make up for lost time. I quickly gathered my things and practically jumped down the stairs to the main floor. Waiting for me at the front desk was Nurse Joy, Sora standing next to her. "She's got a clean bill of health." the nurse said cheerfully. "Now, be careful out there." I nodded and beckoned to Sora to follow me outside, deciding to give her some exercise after being out of the game.

As we walked down to Route 205 I glanced up at her, hovering a few feet above my head. "So how're you feeling?" I called.

"Great." she answered, performing a quick barrel roll to prove it. "I'm glad to be out here in the open air again! But how about you?" she asked suddenly.

"What do you mean?" I replied, curious.

"Well, you almost lost me back there and you seemed really distressed." she explained. "And I heard you yelling at the other trainers."

I sighed. "Yeah, I was pretty frustrated. I didn't want to loose someone else, not after Brittany."

Sora descended a bit, now hovering at eye level next to me. "Nick, you have to face the fact that we won't all survive this." I gawked at the bird pokemon, stopping in my tracks. She flapped her wings and landed in front of me. "I'm serious. I almost died two nights ago. Armstrong was almost killed by Roark's Cranidos. Eventually our luck is going to run out. And when that happens, I need to know that you aren't going to lash out at everyone, or worse, shut down."

I stood there in silence for a long time, going through everything she had said. Slowly, I spoke up. "I get it. I know you all are worried about me, but I don't want any of you to die, and I'm going to try my best to make sure that you don't. But you're right. I can't keep going thinking that everyone will make it through this. It's unrealistic. And when that happens, I'll step up. But until then, I'd rather not dwell on the subject."

Sora nodded. "That's all I wanted to hear." she said, taking off back into the sky again.

"Since when did you become the voice of reason?" I asked half-jokingly as we started moving again.

She chuckled. "Someone had to while you were busy acting the fool."

The path through Route 205 wasn't very treacherous in and of itself, but the sheer number of trainers stationed along it made the trek more dangerous. Sora was in top form, showing no signs of slowing down from the poisoning ordeal. When we started encountering more and more rock-type pokemon, I switched her out with Franklin, realizing I hadn't spent much time with the little turtle recently. We eventually battled our way to the edge of Eterna Forest. Franklin stared up in awe of the tall pines.

"They're so big!" he gasped, craning his neck as high as he could in an effort to see the top of the trees. "I never thought trees could grow that big!"

"Wait till you evolve into a Torterra." I chuckled. "You'll have a tree like that growing out of your shell."

"Wow!" Franklin said, excited at the prospect of becoming a mobile tree. I couldn't help but fell giddy at how everything seemed so interesting to him. We marched through the forest, with me describing all the different plants as best I could to the curious turtle. As the day wore on, we grew silent simply enjoying the quiet of the forest.

"Hello?" a voice called out, shattering the peacefulness of the surrounding woods. "Is anyone there?" The voice was female, and not that far off. Franklin and I jogged towards it, moving quickly through the brush. Rounding a thick clump of trees, we found the source of the voice. A woman in her 30s was standing in the thicket. She wore a green dress, under which was a shirt colored a lighter green. Even her hair was green, pulled into a thick braid that fell over her shoulder. In contrast to the rest of her appearance, she seemed to be wearing thick, leather hiking boots. She turned towards us as we approached.

"Oh thank goodness, I thought I was lost forever!" she gasped, trotting over to us. "My name's Cheryl. I was hiking though the woods here and got lost. I didn't expect this place to be so big."

I introduced myself and Franklin. "We're on our way to Eterna if you want to come along." I offered.

"Well, I don't want to be a burden." she said, glancing down at the ground. "Oh! I know!" she said suddenly. She reached into a pocket on her dress and withdrew a pokeball. "Come out Chansey!" she called.

The large pink pokemon appeared in a burst of red light. It held the large egg in it's pocket, eyes darting around the forest. It squeaked at Cheryl and pointed at the two of us.

"It's okay Chansey, we're not battling." Cheryl said before turning to me. "Chansey can heal your pokemon for you while we travel. That way, we help each other out."

"Sounds great to me!" I said, immediately feeling better about the trek through the forest. _Now I don't have to worry about anyone getting poisoned! Awesome!_ "Let's get going then. I want to get through the forest before night." I said, working my way back to the path, Franklin and our new companions following.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13: Choices in Eterna**

We traveled through Eterna Forest, chatting calmly and trading stories. It turns out that Cheryl is from a rather well-off family that lives near Hearthome. Her Chansey was given to her as a birthday present a long time ago, back when it was a little Happiny. Eventually, wanderlust took over and with her newly evolved Chansey in tow, Cheryl set off to travel the country. She had been on her way to Eterna when she got lost in the forest.

"Thanks again for traveling with me." Cheryl said for the fourth time.

"Don't mention it, really." I muttered. "Like you said, you're helping me out by healing my team." We turned down a corner and discovered two young trainers, their twin Abra floating behind them.

"Oh, hello." one murmured, a girl with short black hair. "This is quite fortunate. Would you be interested in a battle? My brother and I wish to test our strength."

I looked back at Cheryl over my shoulder. She nodded and I smirked back at the twins. "No problem. Go get them Franklin!"

The battle wasn't very eventful. The Abra were fast, and teleported all over the place, but they just weren't strong enough to handle Franklin's brute strength backed up by Chansey's healing. Both psychic-types went down in short order, giving us the victory. "Awesome job Franklin!" I cheered, patting him on the shell. That's when I noticed the glowing. All I could say was "Oh, sweet!" as my starter pokemon evolved.

Gone was the small turtle from before. Now, a rather large tortoise stood before me. His shell was gold and had gotten larger, three small ridges running down it. It extended a bit down his head, giving him an armored look. The biggest change were the two large bushes growing out of his back. He shook slightly, sending a small cascade of leaves onto the path. "I feel great!" he exclaimed, stretching and getting used to his new body.

"Congratulations." Cheryl piped up. The other two trainers nodded, giving their regards to Franklin before moving on down the path. I smiled and patted him on the shell again, no longer having to bend over to do so. "That's awesome buddy, I'm glad you finally evolved."

It turned out that Franklin evolving wasn't the most exciting thing to happen that day. Giving him a rest, I had let out Mufasa and we moved deeper into the forest. "Hey Cheryl?" I asked. "Don't you think it's weird that we haven't ran into any wild pokemon?"

The green-haired woman was silent for a while. "I think it has something to do with Team Galactic." she eventually answered. "I've heard they have a base in Eterna and they might be using the forest to capture new pokemon."

"Wouldn't that mess up the ecosystem or something?" I asked. "Like over-hunting?"

Cheryl shook her head. "This forest is so large, it's almost impossible to capture enough pokemon in it to have an impact like that. Although, wild pokemon may be avoiding the path now, knowing that trainers are waiting."

"Man, that bites." I muttered. "I wanted to catch something in here. There's all kinds of cool pokemon in forests." Right as I said that, a flash of white bounced across the path ahead of me. Before I could even react, Mufasa took off, animal instincts kicking in to chase the prey. "Mufasa, wait!" I cried, tearing after him. It was all I could do to keep up with the electric-type, darting in and out of the foliage, around trees and on at least one occasions, _up_ a tree. Finally, I heard a small cry and a thud. I burst into a clearing and saw the strangest sight I'd ever seen.

A Buneary, a small rabbit pokemon, stood defensively before a large thicket of thorns. It was to tight to move through, or else she would have kept going. Flat on his back, trying to gather his thoughts, was Mufasa. "What happened to you?" I asked sarcastically. I was pretty sure the Buneary had knocked him on his ass.

Mufasa merely got to his feet silently, trying his best to keep his pride. I tried my best not to laugh to spare his ego. "Alright, since she's the first wild one we've seen, how about we try to catch her?" I said, grabbing a spare pokeball out of my bag.

Upon seeing the pokeball, the Buneary's stance softened a bit. She bounced across the clearing moving right up to me. In shock, I held still, wondering why this wild pokemon was suddenly so docile. She sniffed the pokeball, then my hand. She hopped back a bit and stared up at me. Her amber eyes were filled with curiosity. "Uh, want to come with me?" I asked dumbly, shaking the pokeball slightly to get my point across. She nodded and closed her eyes, waiting for the catch. I leaned forward, lightly tapping the ball on her head. She was caught without a fuss, a simple three shakes and a click.

I straightened out and looked over at Mufasa, who was busy cleaning himself like nothing had happened. "Well that was certainly weird." I said, tracing my steps back to the path as the pokeball faded away. On the way back I stumbled onto another path. Looking down it, I noticed it was the exit, a sign spelling it out for me a short distance away. I stopped, pondering about what to do. _I can grab Cheryl and come back here and be in Eterna before I know it. But then, I won't have her free healing, which has been doing wonders. If I can keep her around the rest of the day, I bet I can train the whole team up to top form for the next gym._ I nodded to myself, decision made and trudged back into the woods, Mufasa following silently. A short time later, I found Cheryl exactly where I had left her when the cat had taken off. "What happened?" she asked.

"Mufasa found a Buneary and we ran after it. I managed to catch it, but it's in the PC now." I explained. I looked around. "I guess we should keep going this way right? Hope we get out of here soon." Cheryl nodded and we started down the path. I tried to ignore the look Mufasa gave me, though thankfully, he didn't say anything.

A long day later, the sun was starting to set. I had managed to train everyone up to a condition I thought was great for the next gym, except for Rebecca. The Bibarel had decided that she didn't want to train and had opted for a nap instead. _That's fine._ I thought, pocketing her pokeball. _I was planning on switching her out for that Buneary anyway._ Turning to Cheryl I said "It's getting dark. We shouldn't be that far from the exit now."

"I hope you're right." she said wistfully. "I can't imagine spending the night in this place."

I agreed, taking the path that I knew led to the exit. About ten minutes later, the exit came into view. "Hey, there it is!" I exclaimed, probably a little more animated than I had planned.

Cheryl didn't seem to notice. "Thank goodness! Eterna City here I come!" she jogged a short distance ahead before stopping and running back, digging in the pockets of her dress. "I want to thank you again for helping me. Here, take this." she said, handing me a small bell with a ribbon. "It's a Soothe Bell." she explained. "It'll make the pokemon that wears it happier. Bye!" She took off again, not waiting for a thank you. I watched her go for a bit before staring down at the bell. Someone clearing their throat caught my attention and I looked around, before seeing Mufasa, staring at me pointedly.

"Come on, I didn't ask for the damn thing." I muttered, shoving the bell in my bag and following Cheryl out of the forest. I moved across a small wooden bridge, purposely ignoring the fisherman lining it. I didn't want to get drawn into a battle with them and I'm sure they were busy with their catches anyway. A short walk later, I arrived in Eterna City. It was definitely smaller than Jublife, but still a large city. Tall buildings were scattered here and there, but for the most part it was simple, two-story structures. Asking around, I quickly found the PokeCenter and checked in for the night. I caught the look the nurse gave me after reading my card, but ignored it. _Seems like things are just gonna get more difficult for me now that everyone knows I'm a Nuzlocker_ I thought.

The next day, I withdrew the Buneary from the PC, placing Rebecca in. We had a long talk the night before about her laziness, and it seemed like she didn't mind being taken off the team. In fact, she seemed kind of relieved that she would be out of danger, safe in the PC with the other pokemon I had captured. It made me a little depressed that my pokemon seemed happier away from me, but I shook it off, focusing on training the new recruit.

I made my way back to the pond with the fisherman, stopping at the edge of the bridge. Tossing her pokeball, I released the little rabbit. She stretched a bit before hopping around the area, investigating. "Wow! I knew getting caught wasn't a bad choice!" she remarked.

"You might change your mind after we've had out little chat." I called. She whipped around, looking up at me in shock.

"You...you can understand me?" she asked, wide-eyed.

I nodded. "Yep. And that's not all..." I began, noting the mark on her folded ear. A short while later, I had explained everything about the challenge to her and shown her the mark using the water as a mirror. She kept staring at it, moving in different ways and positions to see it from every angle. I wondered what it was all about before she started talking again. "Well. I don't think this thing will hurt my chances with the boys, will it?"

I did a double-take, gawking at the small bunny. "Uh, excuse me? Did I hear that right?" I asked.

She glanced at me, annoyed. "Yeah, I didn't mumble did I? Just because I look like a fluffy little innocent bunny doesn't mean I'm a kid. I'm 20 years old dammit." she snapped.

I could only stare in shock. _Franklin acts so young, I just assumed all little pokemon were kids. It didn't occur to me that they would age._ "Huh. Well, I can only ask you not fool around with anyone else on the team. I know Armstrong and Mufasa are in your egg group but..." I trailed off, embarrassed to be even having this conversation with a foot tall bunny.

"Armstrong and Mufasa?" she giggled. "Where did you get those names from?"

"Don't laugh Lola, you get a funny name too." I smirked.

In a complete reversal from what I expected; _But what isn't with this one?_; Lola put a paw to her chin, thinking the name over. "Lola huh?" she finally said nodding. "Yeah, I think I can get behind that. So, what are we doing here, other than small talk?"

"Training." I said, gesturing at the various fisherman lining the bridge. "Everyone else is ready for the gym, and even though I probably won't need you for that fight, I want you in line with everyone else, as backup."

The Buneary rolled her eyes. "Backup? Seriously? If that cat you had chase me yesterday is any indication, I'm the best fighter on your team."

"We'll see about that." I smirked. _I like her already_ I thought. It turned out, see was mostly right. The only offensive move she knew was Pound, although she quickly picked up how to use Quick Attack after a few battles. Combined, the two moves made her a powerhouse against the Magikarp and Goldeen brought to the table by the local fisherman. After four battles in a row, I decided that she still needed a bit more, so we headed into the Forest.

"So what do you get out of this?" Lola asked suddenly, after easily dispatching a wild Burmy.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"This challenge. At the end, what do you get?" she replied.

I thought about it for a minute. "In a word? Nothing." I answered. "I could be champion of the region, but I don't plan on staying. In the end, I guess I just get bragging rights. And I get to go home." The answer didn't seem to please her, but she didn't comment on it. "What about you? Why'd you let me capture you so easily?" I asked.

Lola sighed. "I've lived in this forest all my life. It's home to me, and many others. Problem is, I like to party, to have fun, to live. This place, it gets so _dull_ most of the time. I want to go out and _do_ things, meet new people, have an adventure! I figured traveling with a trainer was the best way to do that." She chuckled lightly. "Guess I picked the right trainer. Nothing more adventurous than risking your life."

"I'm sorry about that." I muttered. She gave me a confused look. "I mean, I knew going into this that you guys could die, but for some reason, I didn't think it mattered. Like, to me, your lives weren't important. Then Brittany died." I stopped, staring at the ground. "Honestly, I never thought I would care about a Bidoof. I hate the damn things, they're only useful for HM's. But the fact that it was _my_ Bidoof, someone I had talked to and trained with...that made all the difference."

We stood in silence for a long moment before Lola groaned. "God, what a mood killer _this_ conversation turned out to be, let's get back to fighting the random bugs." she muttered, hopping down the path. I snorted a bit, unable to completely resist chuckling at her party-girl personality and followed. The rest of the training session went by pretty quickly, and by noon Lola had learned a new move, Jump Kick, and was caught up with everyone else according to the PokeTech. "Alright Lola, your training's done. Let's go back to town, have some lunch." I said, already walking down the path. We arrived back at the city about a half an hour later, having not gone very far into the forest. I was feeling pretty confident about my chances going up against Gardenia, daydreaming about my impending victory, when I saw a flash of yellow speeding towards me. I barely had time to brace myself before Barry slammed into me full speed.

"Nick! What's going on man, haven't seen you in _days_!" he crowed excitedly, squeezing me in a bear hug with strength that would have surprised me if I wasn't busy trying not to suffocate. Luckily, Barry seemed to notice this just in time and released me, allowing me to gasp for air. "How've you been man, did you beat Roark? What am I saying, you wouldn't be here otherwise. Oh, that reminds me, check _this_ out!" he said, floundering around in his bag before withdrawing his badge case. "I got the Forest Badge!" he exclaimed proudly, shoving the now opened case in my face. Sure enough, the green diamond badge was wedged right where it should be next to the Coal Badge.

"Congrats man." I said, genuinely happy for him. I mean, I knew he was going to win anyway, he's supposed to, but more and more I come to think that this world isn't just the game I was playing. Looker, for one thing. "Let me guess, George and Will did all the work?"

"His name is William, and if you must know, yes." Barry muttered. "I do have some more pokemon, but I figured that they could handle it. After all, it _is_ the grass gym." He paused for a moment, gathering his thoughts as he put the badge case away. "Oh hey! I just remembered! You know that legendary pokemon we tried to capture in the lake?"

"You mean the one that didn't show up?" I asked.

"Yeah, that's it!" he said, nodding vigorously. "Well, there's a statue in the local park of another legendary pokemon! Let's go check it out, maybe it'll explain how to see it!" Before I could give my answer he took off. I sighed and trudged after him.

"You have weird friends." Lola muttered. I couldn't agree more.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14: Fateful Encounters**

I followed Barrys trail to the park he had mentioned. It was a simple place, just a field with benches really, and at the center stood the statue he had mentioned. Moving closer, I noticed Barry standing some distance away from the object. Curious, I changed course and walked over to him. "What's going on man, you were so excited about this thing I half expected you to be climbing on it by the time I got here." I joked.

He glanced over at me, then pointed. "Isn't that the guy from Lake Verity?" he asked, unusually quiet for him.

I followed his gesture and indeed, a man was standing in front of the statue. Squinting my eyes, to get a better view, my heart practically stopped. _Oh shit, it's Cyrus!_ I scrambled at all my knowledge of the games, trying to figure out why Cyrus was here. _Oh man, this is really not good_. I glanced over at Barry, who seemed only mildly concerned about the blue-haired maniac.

"Maybe he's interested in legendary pokemon too." Barry mumbled. _You can say that_ I thought sourly. "Hey! Let's go ask him if _he_ knows how to catch a legendary pokemon!" Barry said, already halfway across the field. "Barry, wait!" I cried, running after him with Lola following.

I caught up to him right as he got to Cyrus, praying that the Galactic commander wouldn't risk doing anything in public. "Hey mister! My name's Barry. I saw you over at Lake Verity a few weeks ago?" Barry asked, being his typical friendly self.

Cyrus continued to stare at the monument. He might have glanced over at Barry, but I was to far away to catch it. Barry seemed to take his silence as permission to keep talking. "So I was thinking, if you were there, and now you're here, you have to know a lot about legendary pokemon, right? I want to catch one and was hoping you can give me some tips." Barry beamed up at the man, who continued to ignore him.

"Sorry about my friend here, I hope he wasn't bothering you." I piped up, standing next to the blonde. Now I knew Cyrus was paying attention, closing his eyes and sighing at the sound of another voice.

"Why do you want to catch a legendary pokemon?" he asked. The question caught Barry off guard, and certainly shocked me. _Since when was Cyrus one for talking with anyone?_

"Well, they're legendary!" Barry explained. "I mean, they're _super_ rare, one of a kind! And they have to be _really_ powerful, right? I bet I'd never loose a battle again if I had a legendary at my side!"

This seemed to finally grasp Cyrus' attention, the older man turning away from the statue. "All you desire from them is power?" he asked. Barry nodded. "What else is there?" he asked. I slapped a hand to my forehead and groaned over my friends stupidity. Cyrus didn't react other than narrowing his eyes slightly. "There is _far_ more to the legendary pokemon than mere power. Learn more about them and maybe you will begin to see the possibilities. Good day." He turned and walked off, clearly done with the conversation.

"What do you think he meant by that?" Barry asked. "I mean, legendary pokemon are only legendary because they're powerful, right?" He turned to me, eyebrow raised.

"In a way, yeah. But it's more than that. I mean, look there." I pointed at the statue. It depicted Dialga and Palkia, the two major legendary pokemon in Sinnoh. "Dialga can control time itself, and Palkia can warp space. With both of those pokemon under your control, you can change the past, be anywhere at anytime. Hell, you can probably reshape the world to be whatever you want it to be."

Barry's eyes got wide. "Wow." he exclaimed. "I never thought about it like that. I always thought of those legends as stuff people made up about the pokemon, not actually true."

I sighed. "Barry, just because _I_ think the legends are true doesn't mean that they are. Look, I'm late for lunch and I promised the team I'd take them all out tonight. I'll see you later." I walked off, pointedly going the opposite way Cyrus was headed. Unfortunately, that lead me to the outskirts of town, away from any restaurant I could eat at.

"Hold on, I thought we were going to grab something to eat?" Lola asked, looking around the rocky cliffs we found ourselves on.

"I know, I just wanted to see if we could find a new pokemon to catch over here." I lied. Glancing around, I noticed we were pretty much at the base of Mt. Coronet, the large mountain range that split Sinnoh in half down the middle. I looked over at the top of the tallest peak, knowing what awaited me there. _Man, that whole event seems a long way away_ I thought to myself. Shaking all thoughts of the future out of my head, I focused on the present. Which, as it turned out, was a small lavender pokemon calmly meditating on a nearby rock. "Sweet, a Meditite! Lola, knock it down!"

A short and uneventful battle later, Yaddle the Meditite was added to the PC, her pokeball being zapped away. "You know, I've always wondered how they managed to get the crazy amount of technology required to do something like that, but space travel and other futuristic stuff isn't around."

"You think to much. Let's go eat!" Lola declared, in a good mood from her victory over the fighting-type. A short while later, I had managed to find a restaurant that let you eat outside with your pokemon. I let the whole team out, putting food down for them while I ordered a cheeseburger meal for myself. "Man, at least the food hasn't changed." I muttered to myself through a mouthful of burger. While I ate, I watched the group and how they interacted with their newest member. It was quite a sight.

"Hey! Watch where you're poking rock-head!" Lola yelped, glaring at Lin. The ever-curious Geodude had gone about her normal routine of poking and prodding the new pokemon. It was almost an initiation thing. In order to officially be part of the group, Lin had to inspect you.

"Shut up, I'm not hurting you." Lin grumbled, grabbing the clump of fur at the end of Lola's ear.

"Owowowow! Quit!" Lola cried, violently kicking at the rock-type. Thankfully, the super-effective move missed and Lin let go of the ear. Unfortunately, Lin didn't get the hint and came back for more. I was about to intervene when a flash of gray and a flurry of feathers interrupted them.

"Enough!" Sora barked. The bird pokemon turned towards the Geodude. "Lin, leave Lola alone. We all want to eat in peace and you've done enough already." Sora turned to face the Buneary. "Lola, I believe that Nick explained the way the challenge works to you?" Lola nodded, still holding her ear tenderly. "Then I'll say this once. Don't _ever_ attack a teammate with a super-effective move. If that Jump Kick had landed, Lin could have died. Next time, let Nick deal with it. Are we clear?" Sora's tone was gentle, but stern enough that it was clear she was mad at both of them.

Lola nodded, then leaned around Sora to talk to Lin. "Sorry Lin, I didn't mean to kick at you like that. But you still should've left me alone!"

Lin shrugged and moved over to her food. The situation resolved I relaxed a bit and returned to my burger.

"You've got an interesting group of pokemon there." a voice said. I turned and found myself face to face with a very nice chest in a revealing dress. Hey, it wasn't on purpose, that's just how it happened. I quickly looked up to the face of whoever was talking to me.

"Oh shit, you're Cynthia." I gasped, probably coming off a lot dumber than it should have. She was wearing a long black dress with fur trimmings. Black slacks and shoes with slight heels finished the outfit. Her long blonde hair fell to her waist. To her credit, the Sinnoh champion didn't seem to mind my reaction. Probably because she got it all the time.

"Yep. I'm Cynthia. Mind if I ask your name?" she sat down at the table across from me.

I was still in a stunned silence for a few seconds before recovering. "Uh, yeah, I'm Nick. From Sandgem." I said. I turned over to my team, who were all mostly staring at the new arrival. Except for Mufasa, who never reacted to anything that went on around him. "That's Lin, Sora, Lola, Mufasa, Franklin and Armstrong." I said, pointing to each pokemon in turn.

"Aw, so you're someone who nicknames their pokemon." Cynthia said, looking back at the group of pokemon staring at her. "Hello!" she waved cheerfully.

"Hi!" Lola piped up, bounding up to the woman. I knew Cynthia probably couldn't understand her, but I'm sure she got her point across.

"So what was that you said? Something about my team being interesting?" I said, taking another bite of burger. I mean, sure, I was talking to the highest ranked trainer in the region, but I was still hungry.

"I saw what happened just now between your Geodude and this lovely little lady." Cynthia said, picking Lola up and hugging the little bunny. Lola seemed quite pleased with this reaction so I didn't protest. "Most trainers would either let them fight or intervene themselves. Your pokemon though, they worked it out among themselves, without your help. They must have a tight bond."

"You have no idea." I muttered, unconsciously scratching at the back of my hand. Cynthia noticed this, and I saw her eyes grow sharper, quickly darting from pokemon to pokemon.

"Oh! So _that's_ why!" she said, looking down at Lola. Her eyes were suddenly a lot softer. "You're a Nuzlocker aren't you?" she asked.

I sighed. "Man, how am I supposed to keep this thing a secret if all of my pokemon are running around with that damn mark on them? Yes, I'm a Nuzlocker." I answered, this conversation quickly turning bitter in my opinion. I took another bit of the burger to calm my nerves.

Cynthia seemed to notice my change of attitude. "Hey, I'm not totally against it. I'm just worried about your team." She put Lola down and leaned closer. "You have to challenge the Elite Four to finish this challenge, right?" she asked. I nodded. "Well, that means we'll have to battle one day." she leaned back, looking pretty carefree about the whole situation.

"Yep." I muttered. "And just to let you know, I'm not planning on loosing. Or loosing anyone. My whole team is going to make it through." I noticed the look Sora gave me but ignored it.

Cynthia seemed interested in my declaration. "Really? That's a pretty big boast. I take it you haven't lost anyone?" I flinched at the question. My reaction was all the answer Cynthia needed. "I thought so. Listen, Nick, I want you to succeed. Not just for your pokemon's sake but for your sake. So, in order to do that, I'm going to give you this." She reached into a pocket and pulled out a HM case. It had the imprint of the Forest Badge on it. "This is HM01. It teaches the move Cut. I know it's not much, but it's the best I can give. Take it." she said, placing the case on the table. "I guess I'll see you around. Don't give up." She stood up and walked off. I stared at the HM, slowly chewing my food. After what felt like forever, I swallowed and grabbed the disk, shoving it into my bag.

"She was pretty." Franklin piped up. I couldn't help but burst into laughter. Of all the things to walk away from that conversation with, that was the last thing on my mind. "C'mon guys, let's head to the gym. I want to get this badge as soon as possible." I said, returning the group to their pokeballs.

Arriving at the gym, I noticed the building looked pretty much the same as Roarks gym. The trim around the edges was green instead of brown, and it looked like the ceiling in the back was entirely glass to make a kind of greenhouse, but for the most part it wasn't any different. After handing my ID to the front desk, which earned me another interesting look, I made my way inside, the glass doors opening automatically. I expected the maze of trees that I had gone through multiple times on my game. What I got was something completely different. A large flower filled the center of the room. It was obviously made of metal, but the effect was still striking. Two long leaves extended from the base of the flower, one pointing towards me and the other pointing to the left. A gym trainer stood in front of me.

"Welcome, challenger, to the Eterna City Gym!" she cheered. "In order to reach our leader, Gardenia, you need to beat all four trainers spread throughout the gym. Every time you beat a trainer, hit the switch behind them to move the leaves and move on to the next area. Got it?" I nodded. "Then let's go!" she said, tossing a pokeball and releasing a Cherubi.

I released Sora in response. The cheerful expression fell from the girls face. "Why does everyone have a Staravia?" she sighed.

The rest of the gym trainers went similarly. Sora made quick work of most of the opponent pokemon, and eventually I let her rest in favor of Mufasa. Quickly making my way through the puzzle, I finally found myself standing at the end of a grassy arena. A figure stood at the other end. She had red hair cut short and held out of her face with a black headband. She wore a dark green cloak that reached her elbows over a black belly shirt. An orange pair of worn shorts and green boots completed the getup. "Congratulations on making it this far challenger!" Gardenia said. "Unfortunatly, I'm not going to hold back just because you're a Nuzlocker. Hope you're ready!"


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15: Master of Plant Pokemon**

I remember chuckling to myself at Gardenia's declaration. Part of it was because I was fed up with everyone knowing I was a Nuzlocker, but it had happened so often now that I had just given up on keeping it secret. Another part was confidence. I had only one pokemon that was weak to grass-types, and another that was incredibly effective against them. If anything, _I _was the one who should be going easy on _her._ That arrogance cost me.

Gardenia sent out a Turtwig, surprising me slightly that it wasn't a Cherubi like I expected. I chided myself mentally for not remembering everything was different after fighting my way through an entirely new gym puzzle and sent out Mufasa. I figured that I would only use Sora if things got bad, though I didn't expect anything to go wrong.

"Turtwig, use Reflect!" Gardenia cried, starting the battle off without any more small talk. That took me off guard a little as the turtle raised a clear barrier in front of it. _I had no idea Turtwig could even learn that move_ I thought. _Oh well,_ _it shouldn't be a problem._ "Mufasa, use Bite!"

Knowing that electric moves were pretty much useless against grass-types, my options with Mufasa attack-wise were pretty limited. Only Bite would do significant damage, Tackle not being much of an option anymore. The blue cat rushed forward, dodging around the Reflect and latching onto the Turtwig's side. His sharp teeth clamped down on it's shell, doing damage but nothing serious.

"Turtwig, Grass Knot!" Gardenia ordered. Thick vines shot out from under his shell, wrapping themselves into a tight ball. He slammed the knotted limbs into Mufasa's side, trying to knock him loose. "Hang in there Mufasa! Give it all you've got!" I yelled, trying to provide support. Mufasa bit deeper into the shell, causing small cracks to appear. The Turtwig was alarmed now, frantically wailing on Mufasa with the vines.

"Turtwig, hold on, I've got a Potion!" Gardenia called, running over to administer the medicine. The vines stopped, retreating under the grass-types shell. The potion helped, but Mufasa simply clamped down harder, undoing everything the healing had done. With a final squeeze, he damaged the shell severely, causing the turtle to faint. Gardenia recalled her pokemon with a groan. "I'm sorry little guy, I'll patch you up later." she cooed to the pokeball.

Mufasa retreated over to me while Gardenia chose her next pokemon. I dug through my bag for a Super Potion, taking notice of the several bruises Mufasa had taken from the Turtwig's attacks. _A few more of those and Mufasa would have been done_ I thought grimly. The next pokemon had appeared by the time I had dragged out the medicine. It was a Cherrim, wrapped tight in the purple petals, hiding it's face. I quickly sprayed the potion on Mufasa, getting ready for their next attack.

"Cherrim, show them what a _real_ Grass Knot can do!" Gardenia said. Once again the vines shot out, knotting together in a thick ball. It slammed into Mufasa's side, though thanks to the medicine, he wasn't hurt very badly. Surprisingly, the vines retracted, probably because there wasn't a three-foot tall lion latched on to the Cherrim. Yet. "Mufasa, use Bite!"

"Cherrim, Safeguard!" Gardenia ordered quickly. The protective veil came up a moment before Mufasa's jaws bit into the soft petals. Unlike the Turtwig, Mufasa got plenty of soft flesh to hold onto. Also unlike the Turtwig, Cherrim seemed less fazed by the large cat, possibly from the Safeguard.

"Grass Knot again!" Gardenia called. The vines emerged again, striking against Mufasa's flank. The pattern repeated again, the vines hitting Mufasa and his teeth sinking in deeper with each hit. However, I noticed that Mufasa wasn't going to win this fight without my help. "Mufasa, come back!" I called, digging up another Super Potion. He let go reluctantly, swiftly returning to my side. A deep gash was left where he had bitten, oozing sap.

After I sprayed the medicine, Gardenia seemed to have a change of strategy. "Keep him away, he can't bite you if he's on the other side of the field! Magical Leaf!" The grass-type retracted its vines, instead shooting out leaves laced with psychic energy. The first few stuck themselves into Mufasa's hide, but the cat quickly managed to get away from them, dodging and weaving through the onslaught of foliage. True to Gardenia's word, he had to stay far away form Cherrim in order to avoid the missiles. _This is never going to work, I need to do something._ "Mufasa! I'm sorry, but you're gonna need to tough it out and get in close. Bite!" I called.

I had to admit, I could never say Mufasa wasn't loyal or determined. Without any hesitation, he changed course, diving straight through the barrage of leaves. He got hit quite a few times, but managed to hit his target, grabbing back onto the other petal, biting down hard. The Cherrim squeaked in pain, trying desperately to get out of his grasp. Gardenia grabbed a Super Potion and approached the tangled pokemon, which gave me time to think of my next move. _Mufasa's hurt badly and he can't take another Magical Leaf. I can't take the risk that they'll use Grass Knot again._ "Mufasa, switch out!" I ordered. The cat obeyed, letting Cherrim go and retreating to my side.

"You did a great job, take a rest." I said, scratching his ear before returning him to the pokeball. As Gardenia healed her Cherrim, I sent out my next combatant. "Alright Lola, let's see what you've got." The bunny glanced around, getting her bearings before looking over her shoulder at me. "Hey, I thought you said I wouldn't be in this fight." she called.

"And I thought I'd be using Sora for most of it, things change." I retorted.

"You both need to pay more attention." Gardenia interrupted. "Cherrim, Magical Leaf!" Lola had no chance to dodge as the leaves struck, knocking her across the field. She quickly hopped back to her feet, dodging the next blast of leaves.

"Lola, Jump Kick!" I called. I had figured that the quickest way to end this battle, other than just using Sora, was to hit hard with my strongest pokemon. Lola may have been new to the team, but her Jump Kick attack was strong. Unfortunately, Gardenia seemed to agree.

"Cherrim, move!" She ordered. The plant pokemon shot its vines out directly beneath it, rolling itself out of the way. Lola could do nothing in midair and slammed into the ground, skidding a few feet. "Now, Magical Leaf while it's immobile!" Gardenia cried. The leaves homed in on Lola's position. Lola cried out in pain as the leaves buried themselves in her fur.

"Lola get away!" I called desperately. _This is _not _going as planned_ I thought, panicked at the potential loss of another team member. Either from luck or raw toughness, Lola bounced out of the storm of leaves, still hurt but not out of the fight by any means. I sighed in relief. "You scared the hell out of me!" I scolded.

"Yeah, cutesy family moment later, right now we need to focus!" she snarled. I was a little taken back by how violent she sounded, but in the end I took her advice and focused on the battle, putting off my concerns for another time. "Alrighty then, can't fuck it up twice in a row. Jump Kick!" Turns out I was right for once, the attack hitting home. It seemed I had underestimated the toughness of our opponent, however, as the Cherrim seemed hardly fazed by the blow.

"Cherrim, Leech Seed!" Gardenia called. I groaned inwardly as the seeds shot out, wrapping small, thin roots across Lola's fur. She tried to brush them off but they were imbedded, slowly sapping her energy and feeding it to the grass-type. I waved Lola over and sprayed a Potion on her, hoping to ease the wounds somewhat. One Magical Leaf attack later, I recalled the feisty bunny. _This is really getting out of hand_ I thought, sending out Armstrong. For some reason, I still refrained from using Sora, my ace in the hole.

Gardenia noticed this as well. "What's the matter, don't want to use your big strong Staravia?" she taunted.

That got my blood boiling. "Armstrong, shut them up with a Seismic Toss!" The Machop had learned the move in the recent training session and I was itching to test it out.

"Cherrim, Safeguard!" Gardenia ordered. I had failed to notice the previous veil was gone, replaced now by a fresh one. Armstrong grabbed Cherrim in a tight arm-lock, hoisting the pokemon over his head in a perfect german suplex. Kurt Angle would have been proud. The move only does damage equal to the users HP, but even at a low level it packed a punch.

"Use Magical Leaf!" Gardenia cried, and another volley of leaves shot out from the purple petals. I didn't even try to tell Armstrong to dodge it, his ability No Guard removing any chance of that happening. The leaves struck, taking _far_ more health than I had anticipated. "Armstrong, come back!" I called. "I need to heal you!" Reluctantly, he returned to my side, his battle lust starting to take over. I sprayed him with a Potion and sent him back out. Another Magical Leaf later, I decided the situation was to much for Armstrong to handle. "Come on back Armstrong, we're not getting anywhere." I groaned, recalling the Machop.

Gardenia chuckled. "What's next? Is the Staravia finally coming out?" she teased. My hand stopped short of Sora's pokeball. For some reason, the taunt prevented me from simply ending it. I wanted to prove that I could beat her without a type advantage, that I could win without going the easy way. My hand moved to Franklin's ball, tossing it lightly and releasing the large tortoise.

"Ooh, you have a Grotle!" Gardenia complimented, nodding appreciatively. "I don't always see trainers that start with them, it's mostly Chimchar."

I ignored her and knelt down next to Franklin. "Hey buddy, we're in a tight spot here. That Cherrim has been kicking us around. Think you can take her?" I asked.

Franklin looked across the field at his adversary, studying her. He probably saw, like I did, that she was breathing heavily, wounds from both Lola and Armstrong's attacks still evident. Apparently, Gardenia had run out of healing items to use. Franklin looked back at me and nodded firmly. "I've got this." he said. "Leave it all to me."

He charged forward, getting some impressive speed for a Grotle. It still wasn't as fast as other grass-types though, and Gardenia had plenty of time to retaliate. "Cherrim, knock him down with Grass Knot!" The ball of vines once again shot out, slamming head on into Franklin, trying to halt his charge. It slowed his fairly easily, but then stalled out, each pokemon pushing against the other, struggling to move them back. "Franklin, use Bite! Grab the vines!" I called. Franklin acted without question, chomping down on the stringy limbs. He pulled back hard, dragging Cherrim across the arena. Neither Gardenia or Cherrim had expected this, a sharp cry rising from both of them. Quickly, Franklin charged forward again and Tackled Cherrim, finally knocking out the tough grass-type.

I cheered, patting Franklin on the back as he ran over. Gardenia merely smiled and returned her fallen pokemon. "You did a great job." she murmured, putting the pokeball away before drawing another one. "This is my last pokemon, but it's a tough one. Don't think it's over just yet." she called, releasing it in a spray of red light. The light faded away and a Roserade stood, looking powerful. It flexed the flowers that stood in for hands, beckoning Franklin to come fight.

"This guy looks tough, but we can take him." I told Franklin. He nodded, still fired up from his previous victory. He faced his new opponent, ready for action. "Use Bite!" I called and the fight was one, Franklin charging forward once again.

"Grass Knot!" Gardenia ordered, and the now familiar ball of vines slammed into Franklin's side, trying to knock him down instead of preventing his charge. He was too steady though, already well into the run when the attack hit. Franklin reached his target, biting down on the Roserade's blue hand and holding on tight.

"Great job Franklin, just hang in there and we'll be done in no time!" I encouraged.

Gardenia gave a deep sigh. "I told you at the start I wasn't holding back." she muttered. "Do you really think that strategy will work a third time? Grass Knot!" she ordered.

Things seemed to slow down a bit. I heard the order. I saw Roserade lift it's arm, Franklin's mouth still clamped on it. I saw Franklin rise up off of his front legs, lifted by the grass-types impressive strength. And I saw the Roserade's free hand point directly at Franklin's exposed underbelly.

"Franklin, NO!" I shouted in warning.

The vines shot out, slamming directly into his stomach. I heard a sickening crack and Franklin let go of the other hand, mouth hanging open in a silent scream of pain. He rocketed back, stopping only when he hit a tree outside the arena. I rushed over to him, kneeling at his side. _This can't be happening_. I remember repeating that to myself, like a mantra. As if I repeated it enough times, it would be undone. I reached out, wanting to hold him but to scared of causing him more pain. "I...Franklin?" I asked, the words finally leaving my mouth.

He coughed in response, his body shaking horribly. "I guess...cough...I guess I wasn't strong enough." he said weakly. The blue glow started to move across his body, just like with Brittany. Only this wasn't Brittany. This was Franklin. My starter. My first friend in this whole stupid challenge. Just before the glow completely covered him, his eye opened weakly, focusing on me. "I'm glad I was able...to get this far..." he gasped. His head fell and the blue spirit rose, flying up and out through the glass roof of the gym, into the clear blue sky. I stayed on my knees, staring at his body, unbelieving. I was there for several minutes before a voice roused me from my thoughts.

"Do you...do you need a minute?" Gardenia asked meekly. In hindsight, she was probably as upset as I was. I mean, she had complimented Franklin earlier, saying how much she liked the Turtwig line. Hell, she even had a Turtwig herself! But at the time, her voice was what made what just happened real to me, and my grief turned swiftly into anger.

"No." I growled, getting to my feet. "This will all be over in a second." Without turning, I tossed Sora's pokeball, releasing the bird pokemon. I didn't look, still staring at Franklin, but I heard from her later that she looked around, figuring out the situation. When her eyes found me, and the object of my attention, I heard her gasp.

"Oh! Oh no, Franklin..." she wailed, shuffling over to stand next to me.

"No. Take out the Roserade. Wing Attack." I ordered, my voice harsher than normal. Sora hesitated only slightly before taking off, wheeling around. I heard a short scuffle, a half-hearted "Grass Knot." from Gardenia, before a bell rung throughout the field.

"The winner is...Nick." a somber voice announced. At least they knew enough not to act cheery. Sora flapped over to my side, not a single scratch on her as we mourned Franklin. I remained where I was for quite some time, until a new voice interrupted. I noticed immediately that it wasn't Gardenia.

"Uh, we can take care of your...of _Franklin_ for you." she murmured softly, as if scared to speak to loud around me. I was roused enough to notice it was getting dark. _How long have I been standing here?_ I thought, looking around. The source of the voice turned out to be one of the gym trainers from earlier in the day, what felt like years ago. She took the fact that I was looking at her as a good sign. "Like I said, we can transport him to the Pokemon Tower. It's on Route 209... all the pokemon lost in league battles are buried there. Its free, so you don't have to pay for it."

I stared at her blankly till I felt a nudge on my leg. Looking down, I saw Sora still standing next to me. "You need to let go Nick." she said. Seeing her, I remembered all of the talks I had recently about stepping up, accepting the fact that sooner or later, someone's luck was going to run out. I swallowed, my throat dry and nodded. "Yeah, that'd be great." I croaked. "Hold on one moment." I walked back over to my bag, dropped at the challengers side of the ring. I reached in and grabbed a notecard and marker. Slowly, using my best handwriting, I wrote:

_Here lies Franklin the Grotle._

_My starter. My friend._

_May you travel far among_

_the stars_

Finished, I slipped the notecard into a protective sleeve and handed it to the trainer. "Make sure this gets placed on his...on his tomb." I said. She nodded, gingerly taking the card from me. "And these are for you." she said, holding out a TM and badge. I paused again before taking the badge. _I'll_ _never forget what this badge cost me_ I thought, putting it in my badge case. I left the gym, walking down the street to the PokeCenter. As I walked, I glanced at the TM, reading the label. _TM86: Grass Knot_ it said. I tossed it into the gutter and kept walking without a second thought.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16: Placing the Blame**

I got to the PokeCenter around dinner time. Silently, I grabbed some food from the mess hall and trudged up to my room, locking the door behind me. I finished my food and climbed into bed, emotionally exhausted from the days events. I had to have been really out of it, because a half-hour after I crawled onto the mattress, I heard the sound of pokeballs opening, accompanied by small flashes of red light. Apparently, I had forgotten Sora was still out of her pokeball, and she had released everyone else out for a group meeting.

"mmhmph." Armstrong groaned, stretching his sore muscles. "Man, I'm beat." he muttered.

"No kidding." Lola said, sounding exhausted. "Why haven't we been healed? I mean, we won, right?" she asked. I silently kicked myself for not thinking of them and getting them healed up.

"There was...an accident." Sora mumbled. "I didn't see what happened, but Franklin... he lost to the Roserade."

Everyone was quiet for a long time. There was some movement near my bed, a small shuffling. "Let Nick rest." Sora chided softly. "What happened to Franklin hit him pretty hard." Whoever it was hesitated slightly before moving away. A small sniffle told me it was Lola.

"This sucks." she mumbled. "I mean, I haven't been on the team long, but I liked Franklin."

"Yeah. He was always tolerant of me whenever I wanted to study him." Lin said.

"He may not have been as strong as me, but he was a great battler." Armstrong added, still bragging even when he was mourning a friend.

"We all miss him." Sora concluded. They were silent again for a long time.

"There is a lesson to be learned here." Mufasa said.

"Oh yeah? And what's that? 'Don't get cocky, you might wind up dead'? I think we already know that one thanks!" Lola snapped.

"No. It's that death can come for us at any time." Mufasa retorted. "We cannot expect that everything will go the way we want it to. For all we know, the five of us here won't make it to the end of this journey. We have to be prepared." Silence fell on the gathering again.

"He's right." Sora piped up. "We all know the risks involved, there's no denying that. But after this, we need to prepare for the worst. We can be cautious in battle all we like, but a lucky hit in the right spot could end it."

"What about Nick?" Lin asked. "Is he supposed to just accept the fact that we might all die?"

"If it makes him a better trainer, yes." Sora replied. "Look, Nick needs us as much as we need him. But it's like Mufasa said, and Cynthia said before that. Sooner or later, someones luck is going to run out. Just like Franklin." She sighed. "Look, let's all get some rest. Tomorrow, we all need to talk with Nick about what happened." There was a small commotion as everyone moved around, finding a comfortable spot to sleep. Silence fell for the night and I drifted off to sleep.

The next morning I woke up early, mostly because I fell asleep much earlier than usual. Getting up and looking around the room, I found that everyone was still asleep. I quietly returned them all to their pokeballs, not wanting to wake them. After getting dressed, I went down to the front desk, dropping everyone off for healing. Then I moved over to a spot I rarely visited at any PokeCenter, the PC.

Booting up the computer, I accessed my pokemon storage system, glancing at the few names written onscreen. _I need someone to take Franklin's spot_ I thought to myself. There was only one real option, which I took with a sigh. The pokeball materialized next to me on the table top. Snatching it up, I logged off and exited the building, making a beeline to the lake and the bridge going over it. Once I arrived, I sat at the end of the bridge, staring at the sunrise. I grabbed the pokeball and pressed the button, unleashing the pokemon inside it.

Rose the Budew stretched, yawning in the morning light. She blinked a few times, looking around and getting an idea of what was happening. She glanced up at me. "Is this going to become a thing with us? Sitting at lakes and rivers together, talking about life?" she snarked, sitting next to me.

I chuckled darkly. "Maybe." I answered, still staring at the sunrise. There was a long pause before I spoke again. "Franklin's dead." I said.

Rose paused before responding. "He was the Turtwig, right? The one you used to catch me?" I nodded. "That's to bad." she said, patting me on the back lightly with one of her vines. "I take it that's why I'm out here and not tucked away in the PC." she said, not even bothering with a question. I nodded anyway. "Well then, what are we waiting for? I bet I've got a lot of training to do before I'm up to snuff with the rest of your team." She stared at me, waiting for me to respond in some way. "Hey, what's the matter? I thought we were here to train."

"Well, yeah, but I thought..." I began. "I don't know, I needed someone to talk to." I explained what happened to Franklin at the gym, just venting my frustrations.

Rose looked at me for a long time, studying my face. "So why me? You have to know the rest of the team better, why talk to the odd Budew you caught ages ago and shoved in a box?" she asked.

I shrugged. "I felt like it. I guess I can't face the rest of the team because I feel like it's my fault Franklin died."

Rose snorted. "That's bullshit and you know it." she said, the curse startling me. I stared at the little grass pokemon, who stared right back. "Well, it's true." she pressed. "I mean, I wasn't _there_, clearly, but I seem to remember in out last little chat you mentioning not letting anyone die."

"But he did!" I argued. "I could have just used Sora like I had for the other trainers in the gym, but I got cocky and used everyone else instead! Lola and Armstrong almost died and Franklin actually did!" I was shouting now, probably making quite the scene if anyone was around.

"And like I said, that's bullshit that you blame yourself for that!" Rose shouted back, getting to her feet. "Sure, you could have used Sora, and maybe she would have died instead of Franklin. Maybe one of the others would have been killed, I don't know, I'm not a psychic-type. My point is, you can't predict the future. You had no idea that not using Sora would come back and bite you. Was it a dumb decision? Yes, and now you know better. Is it your fault that Franklin died? No. This was a grass gym, right? How could you have known that Franklin was going to be in any danger there? He should've been fine! What I'm saying is that you can't blame yourself for the random shit that happens in the world, stuff that's outside your control. Let me ask you this. If Franklin had survived the blow and was seriously hurt, would you have used Sora?"

"Of course!" I answered immediately.

"Then stop acting like a martyr, put on your big boy pants and let's get this show on the road!" Rose barked. "It happened, Franklin's dead, and there was nothing you could have done to prevent it other than not be an overconfident asshole. Now unless you want his death to be meaningless, learn from your mistake and move on." She stalked off, walking down the pier towards the forest. "Coming?" she called over her shoulder.

I got to my feet, still kind of in shock at being yelled at by a foot-tall plant, and followed. By the time the sun was setting, we were crossing the bridge back, Rose having evolved into a Roselia not long after we left. She stood a little taller now, looking much more human shaped than before. Her arms now had full on flowers at the ends, and a small leaf-shaped dress covered her body. Three thorns poked out of her head like a crown. As we walked back, she spoke up. "Why did you replace him with me anyway?" she asked. "If it was a Roserade that killed him, why have one on your team?"

I thought about it for a moment. "Honestly, if I had any other grass-type I wouldn't have." I said. "But you're right about learning from my mistakes. Now every time I see you, I'll remember Franklin and what my overconfidence cost me. Sorry if that sounds mean of me."

She shook her head. "Not at all, I'm glad to help. And I'll do more than that, I'll take out every water, rock, or ground type between here and the Elite Four for ya." she crowed. I chuckled. _Didn't she just tell me earlier today not to be overconfident?_ I thought.

Arriving at the PokeCenter, I found my team waiting for me in my room. Their eyes locked onto Rose as we stepped in. "Hi y'all." she waved. "For those of you that don't know, that'd be you bunny girl, my name's Rose. I'm not here to replace Franklin, I'm here to battle and help out in any way I can."

Armstrong grinned. "I like her already." he said, giving the little plant a thumbs up. Everyone else gave a nod of approval while Lin crawled over for her usual inspection of the new teammate. Sora flapped over to me as I sat down at the bed.

"Feeling okay?" she asked. I nodded. "Yeah, Rose managed to snap me out of my funk. Thanks for what you said last night by the way." I said.

"Guess I should have known you were awake for that." she chuckled, watching Rose as she was subjected to the Geodude's curiosity. "She'll be a fine addition to the team." Sora noted.

"Yeah." I agreed.

The next day, I packed my bags for the trip back down to Oreburgh. The plan was to restock at the mining town before moving through Mt. Coronet and moving on to Hearthome City. However, one major obstacle blocked my path.

"What do you _mean_ I can't go on the road?" I shouted at the security guard who was blocking my path. "That's the quickest way back to Oreburgh!"

"I understand that sir, but the Cycling Road is for bike riders only." the guard replied. "It's to dangerous for pedestrians."

"That's the biggest load of-" I began before I felt a hand on my shoulder. Glancing over it, I saw a younger guy wearing a shop uniform.

"Hey, you're just the kind of guy I was looking for." he said. "Follow me, I'll hook you up with a bike." he part led part dragged me back up the street, making a few turns until we arrived at a small bike shop. Finally, he let go of me and I massaged my shoulder.

"Okay, what was that about giving me a bike?" I asked looking around. The shop was empty save for a few bike on display. All in all, it looked abandoned. "Look man, if you want to rob me, you picked the wrong guy." I warned, hand going towards my pokeballs.

The young guy raised his hands in protest. "No, no, nothing like that!" he stammered. "I do have a bike I can give you, really! It's just...I need a favor first."

My eyes narrowed a bit. "What kind of favor?" I asked.

"Team Galactic has a building on the edge of town." he began. "It's impossible to get to without the Cut HM and the badge. The other day, some grunts came to the shop and tried to steal my boss' Clefairy. When the boss fought back, they kidnapped him too and took off! I can't run the shop by myself, I'm just an errand boy! But I can't rescue him either. That's why I need you."

I stared at him. "Let me get this straight." I said. "Your boss and his pokemon was kidnapped by a group of national criminals, and your first response is to hire a random trainer to save him by offering him a bike? Why didn't you go to the cops? You know what, forget it, I'll take the deal. Only because I need the bike and I've got my own issues with Team Galactic."

"Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!" the guy said, hugging me quickly before letting go. "They're north of town, and like I said, you need the HM."

"I got it, thanks." I muttered, already on my way north. After stopping by the PokeCenter, it didn't take long to find the building. "Seriously, who decides to decorate their hidden evil team building with spikes? Could they _be_ more obvious? What the hell's wrong with this place." I muttered, releasing Rebecca. I had traded her out for Mufasa for the purpose of using the HM. "Here you go girl." I said, handing her the disk. After the glow faded away, I put the disc back in my bag. "Okay Rebecca, use Cut!" I declared, pointing at a clump of small trees. She whipped her tail sharply, slicing the trees in half and clearing the way. "Thanks, you can go back to sleep now." I praised, returning the Bibarel to her ball.

Sneaking up to the building, I glanced inside a window. Grunts were patrolling all over the place, all of them doing some odd job or another. "Man, how am I supposed to get in here without a huge battle?" I groaned.

"You could take the back stairs." a voice said in my ear. I practically jumped out of my skin, whirling around to see a grunt standing behind me. His face was gaunt and he had a friendly smile. "Hi there!" he said cheerfully.

I stopped reaching for a pokeball and stared at the weird grunt. "uh...hi?" I said. "So, the back stairs huh?"

He nodded. "Oh, and before you go around talking to all the other grunts, I'm not actually with them." he said, grabbing his blue hair and pulling. It turned out to be a wig that came right off, revealing short black hair underneath. The wig had been so outlandish that I hadn't recognized who it was until he took it off.

"Looker!" I yelped, still not sure if this guy was friend or foe. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same question!" he retorted, putting the wig back on. "I'm trying to infiltrate Team Galactic and learn their secrets. This place isn't giving me any clues, so I'm moving on. Now what about you?"

"I'm trying to save some old guy and his Clefairy." I said. "Team Galactic kidnapped him from Eterna."

Looker nodded. "Yes, I remember something about that while I was inside. Still, the best place to go would be the back stairs. It's always unguarded just in case someone wants to sneak in."

"Why does that sound like a trap to me?" I asked to no one in particular.

"Because it is!" Looker replied proudly. "On each floor there are three separate staircases. Only one leads to the next floor. The rest lead to rooms with guards in them. You need to get the right one or they'll raise the alarm."

"Got it, thanks." I muttered, sneaking around the side of the building. "Do me a favor and call the Eterna police. I need some backup here."

The strange secret agent nodded and crept away as I entered the stairway he talked about. I let Lola out of her pokeball, deciding that I'd need a fast, hard-hitting pokemon in case I run into trouble. Sure enough, I picked the wrong one right off the bat, facing down a grunt with a Stunky.

"Lola, Jump Kick!" I called, charging forward to stop the grunt from calling on his radio. Lola easily dispatched the enemy pokemon with a kick, then snuck up behind the grunt I was struggling with and knocked him out too. "Good job, now let's keep moving." I muttered, turning to leave the room. I noticed a soft glowing coming from behind me and I turned quickly, expecting another attack. Instead, I saw that the light was coming from Lola, the bunny pokemon quickly growing taller. Her ears grew even larger, flopping over and growing down until they reached her hips. Her body filled out, growing more slender and curvier. Small tufts of fur grew on her wrists and around her feet. Finally, a rather large crest of fluff grew over her eyes, highlighting them on her brown main coat. She had evolved into a Lopunny, growing so big her head reached my chest. "Cool, you evolved!" I said as she twisted and turned, getting the feel for her new form.

"Yay! Now I'm all grown up! No more tiny little bunny remarks for me!" she cheered, jumping up and down happily.

"Alright, come on, we've still got work to do." I said, making my way out of the room. She followed, still happily humming to herself.


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17: Raising Hope**

Thanks to Lola's evolution, I had an easy time clearing the path to the top of the building, despite running into a few more grunts along the way. When I finally reached the top floor, I found a strange scene. A man was hog-tied to a chair in the middle of the room. The walls were the color of the night sky, faint lights flickering on them to represent stars. Two pokemon, a Clefairy and a Buneary, cowered in a corner. And standing between me and the man, turning in surprise at the door suddenly opening, was a woman in a skin-tight bodysuit.

"Uh...I seem to have interrupted something private, I'll just go back the way I came." I said awkwardly, backing up to the door. The woman regained her composure, glaring daggers at me.

"Stop right there!" she commanded sharply. "I don't know how you got up here, but we've gone to far for a sniveling brat like you to ruin our plans!"

"Brat? What are you, blind? I'm 18!" I asked, feeling slightly offended. Now that the shock of the situation was fading I took a better look at the woman. She was obviously a Galactic higher up, since she had purple hair in a bun rather than the electric blue wigs all the grunts ran around in. The fabric over her left leg had been cut off, exposing her skin up the mid-thigh.

"Whatever, I'm just going to crush you." she spat, releasing a Zubat.

"Sure you don't want to finish your lap dance first?" I taunted, returning Lola and letting Lin out. The Geodude stared around the room, her curiosity getting the better of her.

"I was not- oh to hell with this, Zubat! Giga Drain!" she yelled.

Lin was distracted by her inspection of the room, letting the attack hit home. She was encased in sickly green energy, large chunks of which flew across the room into the enemy Zubat. _Giga Drain!?_ I thought. _How the hell can a Zubat learn that!?_ "Lin!" I shouted in alarm, rushing to her side. She coughed slightly and shook her head. A quick glance at the PokeTech confirmed, she was alive, though only barely. _Probably because Zubat isn't a grass-type_ I thought, relief flooding through me. "Got it in you for one move?" I asked.

"Yep." she replied, getting up and facing her hovering adversary. "Alright then, end this with Rock Throw!" I called. She dug her hands into the floor, picking up a fairly large chunk of concrete and tossing it like a wad of paper at the Zubat. It tried to fly out of the way, but Lin had lots of practice hitting flying-types with that move and it was crushed.

"Useless thing." the woman spat, recalling it from under the stone. "It's unfitting of someone like me, Commander Jupiter."

I snorted loudly before bursting into laughter. "Jupiter? _That's_ your code name? Oh man, that has got to be the worst planet name for a chick. Don't you know it's a gas giant? That means your calling yourself fat and bloaty!" I bent over from the force of my laughter, Lin joining in weakly. "Oh, sorry girl." I said, wiping a tear from my eye before I recalled the injured rock-type.

If Jupiter was mad before, she was absolutely livid now. "How _dare_ you! That's it, I don't care anymore! I'm putting an end to you _right now_! Stuntank!" she cried, tossing another pokeball. The large skunk pokemon emerged, looking rather vicious. The large tail it had had while a Stunky had merged with the hair along its back, giving it a ridge-like mohawk. Growling, it took a defensive stance.

"Poison/dark-type huh? No problem." I said, releasing Armstrong. The Machop spotted his opponent immediately, flexing his muscles. "Oh good. A challenge." he grinned.

"Stuntank use Smokescreen! Hide in the shadows!" Jupiter barked. The purple skunk took a deep breath before expelling a black cloud of smoke, hiding it and everyone else from view.

I smirked and looked down at Armstrong. "You've got this right?" I asked.

"Absolutely. It'll be a good fight." he replied, closing his eyes. We were quiet for a long time, listening intently. Finally, a small click came from our left and Armstrongs eyes shot open. "Karate Chop!" I yelled and he leaped into the fog, bringing his hand down directly on the Stuntanks head. It yowled in pain, thrashing around and dispersing most of the smoke.

"What!? How!?" Jupiter cried, eyes brimming with rage. "How could you see?"

"We didn't." I explained. "Armstrongs ability is No Guard. He can't miss, and can't dodge. In order to survive he had to become the ultimate fighter." The Machop grinned, raising his hand in a "come on" gesture.

"Ultimate fighter, huh? Well we know how to take care of them." Jupiter boasted. The Stuntank inhaled again, bloating up slightly.

I sighed. "Didn't I just say that he can't miss? Smokescreen isn't going to help here."

"This isn't smokescreen, idiot." Jupiter sneered. "Stuntank, Poison Gas!" The pokemon exhaled, another cloud pouring from its maw, this time a sickly purple. I quickly covered my nose with the front of my shirt, eyes tearing up slightly.

Armstrong merely looked annoyed. "Using poison? Disgusting. A true warrior fights with his own strength, not relying on cheep tricks!" He shot forward, landing another chop on the Stuntanks side, knocking it back a few feet. It hissed, swiping at him with a claw. The attack looked weird, like the smokescreen from before had somehow latched itself onto Stuntanks claw. The blow hit Armstrong in the ribs, but didn't seem o faze him much. He retaliated with another Karate Chop, then fell to his knees, the poison taking its toll.

"Hold on buddy." I called, voice muffled by my t-shirt. I returned him to his pokeball, quickly grabbing another one. I didn't want to endanger another pokemon to the toxic smoke, but I knew just the person to get rid of it. "Sora, come on out! Blow this gas away!"

Sora popped out in a burst of red light, already taking flight. She hovered near the ceiling, out of reach of the gas. Flapping her wings feircely, she blew the gas back, causing it to evaporate.

"Don't just stand there Stuntank, use Night Slash!" Jupiter shrieked. The large skunk launched itself into the air incredibly high, swiping with a claw coated with the same black smoke from before. _No, not smoke_ I thought, _Energy. It's dark energy._ Sora was knocked down, hitting the floor pretty hard. The Stuntank looked no better, having to take a knee when it came back down, clearly exhausted from its fight with Armstrong.

"Sora, finish it off quick! Wing Attack!" I ordered. Sora obeyed, taking off once again and slamming into Stuntanks side with all she had, wings glowing brightly. At first it seemed like the bulky pokemon was still in the fight, swaying unsteadily. Finally, it fell over, knocked out cold. "Great job girl!" I cheered before turning towards Jupiter.

"I can't believe this! How can I loose to this insignificant little-!" she swore, recalling her fallen pokemon. "I'm done. This operation is a loss. Out of my way."

"Seriously? Like I'm going to let you walk out of this place, no harm done?" I asked sarcastically. "No, by now the cops are on their way. You're going to jail."

"I see." Jupiter muttered. "And what about them?" she asked pointing over her shoulder at the old man and the two captive pokemon. Their breathing was heavy, their skin a slightly purple color. "They've been in the poison to long, they'll die without medical attention." Jupiter explained. "So what are you going to do, rescue them or stop me? Bye." she called, staking back to an exit. I cursed under my breath and ran over to the old man, untying the ropes. When that was done I sent out Lola. "Grab him." I said, pointing to the old man while I retrieved the two pokemon from the corner. I sprayed each of them with an Antidote from my bag, pausing only to use another one on Armstrong before making my way out of the building.

"Sora, take off and find the nearest hospital or ambulance. Anything that can help this guy." I said as we crashed through the exit. Following the gray bird, Lola and I managed to find a police car a short distance away. "Hey!" I called. "This guy needs help!"

A quick and thorough interrogation later, the man was on his way to a hospital, and the two pokemon to the center. I explained the situation to the cops, including a description of Jupiter. When it was all done, I heard a voice call out to me. Turning around, I saw Looker, back in his trench coat, walking over.

"Hey, did you manage to get 'em?" I asked.

"No, the punks managed to give us the slip." Looker spat. "We did get some nice info though. They couldn't wipe their drives in time, got all kinds of interesting stuff. I can't give out all the details, something about ancient pokemon. Anyway, thanks for all your hard work, I heard about that fight with Jupiter. Looks like I was wrong about you kid."

"Yeah, no shit." I muttered. "You've got some kind of obsession with Team Galactic, don't you? What's your beef? Other than the stupid uniforms I mean."

Lookers face fell a bit. "I used to have a Croagunk as a partner. Let's just leave it at that." he growled, walking away without waiting for a comment.

"Wow, that's actually pretty depressing." Lola said.

"No kidding." I agreed, turning back towards town. "Let's get out of here."

I managed to make it back to the bike shop while the sun was still up, but there was no way I was going to make it to Hearthome before nightfall. Hell, I probably couldn't make it to Mt. Coronet. Resigned to my fate, I rode my new bike back to the PokeCenter. After healing my team, I decided to go back to the restaurant from a few days ago, one last treat before heading out. We managed to grab the same seats as before, the team eating their food without a fuss while I picked at my spaghetti.

"Well, well, well, back again I see." I turned to see Cynthia walking over, sitting down across from me again. "What good timing, I wanted to find a good trainer like you."

"Yeah well you should keep looking." I grumbled. "Turns out I'm not the great trainer I thought I was."

Cynthia glanced around at the pokemon, eyes lingering on Rose. "Your Grotle didn't make it, did he?" she asked solemnly. I just nodded, pushing my food around with my fork. If I wasn't hungry before, this conversation definitely wasn't helping my appetite.

"That's a shame. He seemed really nice." Cynthia said. "Still, that doesn't make you a bad trainer. Who would have ever thought a grass-type would loos to another grass-type?"

I slammed my fists on the table. "Is there something you want, or can I just get back to my food? I _really_ don't want to talk about Franklin right now."

I felt a tug on my pant-leg and looked down. Rose had walked over and was staring up at me. "I thought I told you to stop blaming yourself." she scolded. I sighed and turned back to Cynthia.

"My Roselia would like me to apologize." I said. "I shouldn't be so mad over it. It was an accident."

"You know, I was wondering what happened to put Gardenia in such a sad mood." Cynthia said. My curious look urged her to continue. "I visited the gym earlier today, hoping to catch up with Gardenia. She was happy enough to see me, but seemed out of it. She kept hugging her Turtwig, like it was a stuffed Teddiursa or something."

"Great, now I feel like crap because the gym leader is upset about killing Franklin." I muttered.

"And you should!" Cynthia shouted suddenly, catching me off guard. "How do you think your challenge affects other trainers Nick? Don't you think killing another trainers pokemon would upset them? Or did you think they would react like the wild pokemon, not caring about what happens?"

I stared down at my food, mulling over what she said. _She's right_ I realized. _I lost Brittany to a wild pokemon, there wasn't anyone else to be upset at. But Franklin was killed by Gardenia, someone who loves grass-types. She must be pretty upset._ I looked back up at Cynthia. "Hey, I've got a favor to ask if that's fine with you." She nodded. "I've got to leave town early tomorrow, I don't have time to stop by the gym. Can you tell Gardenia I don't hold it against her? It was an accident, there was nothing we could have done. If she had held back, the win would have been empty, no challenge."

Cynthia smiled. "And there's the strong trainer I was talking about. Here." she reached into a bag I hadn't noticed her carrying and pulled out a large egg. There were marking on it in random red and blue triangles. "My Togekiss had an egg recently and I was looking for a good home for it since I don't really have time to raise it. I want you to have it."

I stared at the egg. "Why?" I asked. "You do realize you might be handing this Togepi to it's death, right?"

Cynthia nodded. "I know, but you really care about your pokemon. Your team behaves more like a small family than a group of fighters. I can't think of a better place for a young pokemon to grow up in." She nudged the egg towards me slightly before getting up. "Take care Nick." she called, walking away, leaving me with the egg.

Lin climbed up onto the seat where Cynthia had been, carefully prodding the egg. Lola quickly snatched it up, out of the Geodudes reach. "Oh no you don't!" she snapped. "I'm holding on to this until Nick decides what to do with it. I don't want you messing with it."

I stared at the Lopunny. "Wow, where did _that_ come from?" I asked.

Lola looked down at the egg. "I was the oldest sibling in my family." she explained. "I had to watch my brothers and sisters all the time while Mom and Dad went out to gather food. Over time, you develop a protective side for all kids."

I shrugged, gathering my things. "Alright guys, we've got a rough day of traveling tomorrow, let's head back to the Center." We walked off down the street, and I watched the pokemon in front of me. Lin kept trying to get a good look at the egg, which Lola was easily keeping out of the small rock-types reach. Sora was trying to convince Lin to give up, while Armstrong and Mufasa silently walked ahead of the group. Rose picked up the rear, chuckling to herself as she watched Lins antics. _You know, Cynthia's right_ I thought. _We're more than a team. We're family._


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18: Family Matters**

I decided to leave the egg in the PC for now. It was a hard decision, but I didn't want to loose a slot on the team for a while just to end up putting the newly hatched pokemon in the box anyway. "I'll come back and get you when this is all over. I promise." I whispered to egg as it was digitized into the PC. I yawned, it being pretty early in the morning and grabbed my bag off of the floor. I jumped on my bike outside and took off, making my way towards Cycling Road. I easily passed the checkpoint, giving the guard a shit-eating grin as I passed. While my attention was on the guard, a voice in front of me cried out in alarm. I hit the brakes, sliding to a halt barely an inch away from a man in a lab coat.

"Holy shit, are you okay man?" I asked. He lowered his hands, which he had flung up in order to protect himself I guess. "Yes, I'm fine." he said. "Oh! And you're Nick, correct?"

I was a little put off that he knew who I was. "Yeah?" I said, trying to get a read on the situation.

The man waved his hands, indicating he wasn't a threat. "No, no, don't worry! I'm Professor Rowans assistant! Call me Mr. Platinum."

_Platinum, Platinum, where had I heard that name before?_ Recognition sparked in my mind. "Oh! You're Dawn's dad!" I said excitedly.

"Yes I am." he nodded. "Anyway, the Professor wanted me to give you this. He said it should help you on your journey." He fumbled around in his coat for a second before retrieving a strange device. It looked kinda like a head band, with adjustable straps on the side. Two metal bands stretched up over it, small lights at their tips.

"Hey, that's an Exp. Share! Cool!" I said, grabbing the device. "Tell Rowan I said thanks! I've gotta go, have to make it to Hearthome ASAP." I moved my bike around and took off before he could even reply. _What is it with Eterna and people giving me random stuff_ I thought.

Cycling Road turned out to not be as smooth a trip as I thought. It was littered with trainers, all of which seemed to use Magnemite exclusively. The good news was, that meant plenty of experience for Lin. The Geodude was wiping the floor with the little metal pokemon, making great use of the moves Magnitude and Rock Smash. After what felt like the fiftieth battle, we made it to the end. "You did a great job Lin, I'm impressed!" I said. A soft glow was the response I got, catching my attention as the small Geodude evolved into a large Graveler. The larger stone pokemon now had stubby little legs to move with and four thick arms.

"Hey, I evolved!" she crowed, trying her best to look at her new body. Unfortunately, her head was still pretty much her whole body, preventing her from a thorough inspection. She sighed, defeated and slumped to the ground. "Hey, don't be sad." I said. "Trust me, you look badass." She perked up at the praise and I recalled her, letting Lola out for some more training. While on Cycling Road, I noticed a bunch of tall grass underneath it. I made my way there, hoping to get some new pokemon. Imagine my disappointment when it was filled with Machop and Geodude.

"Dammit! I mean, it's not like I want to replace anyone on the team, I like all of you, but can I at least get a little more variety? My only potential replacements are a Zubat, a Shellos and an egg!" I cried.

"You forgot about Rebecca." Lola teased.

"Hey, Rebecca is an important part of the team." I replied. "Who else can learn all of those HM moves? No one that's who."

We made our way back to the path, turning towards Mt. Coronet. The large mountain loomed above us, looking much more intimidating up close. "wow." I gasped, staring up at the peak. Lola was doing the same, looking pretty impressed.

"I take it you haven't been this close to the mountain before." a gruff voice called. I noticed a large man in hiking gear standing a fair distance away. He had three Geodude with him, each grinning wickedly. "Say, city slicker, figure we could have a battle?" the hiker challenged.

I smirked. "If you think you have an advantage just because Lola's a normal-type, you're dead wrong. Lola, Jump Kick!" I shouted. The match started in earnest, one Geodude moving forward confidently. Lola built up speed before launching herself in the air, landing a vicious kick right in the enemy pokemons face. They sailed a fair distance away, landing near the base of the mountain.

The hiker seemed pretty flustered that his rock-type was loosing. "This cannot stand!" he cried. "Geodude, use our last resort! Self-destruct!"

"Oh shit, Lola get away!" I yelped. I was to late. The Geodude glowed brightly seconds before letting off a large blast, knocking Lola several feet into the air. She crashed nearby, crumpled and not moving. I ran over, kneeling down next to her. "Lola! Hang in there, do _not_ die dammit!"

Surprisingly, Lola smiled weakly. "It's gonna take more than that to take me out." she groaned. I checked the PokeTech, realizing she was at 3 HP. _She barely made it!_ I quickly returned her to her pokeball, stabilizing her condition till we could get to Hearthome. I turned back to the hiker. "That could have killed her." I growled. I sent Lin out, the newly evolved Graveler looking as mean as she could. "I'd like to see your self-destruct tactic work on her."

Lin easily smashed both the opposing Geodudes with a high level Magnitude attack. After the battle, I made my way towards the cave tunnel that connected the west side of Sinnoh with the east. Just before I got inside, I heard someone calling my name.

"Oh, hey Dawn." I said, seeing the black-haired girl run up, her pink coat easily standing out from the brown stone.

"I heard from Dad that you were on your way to Hearthome, thought I could catch you here." Dawn explained. "I was looking through some old stuff of mine and I found these." She held out two objects. One was a small white triangular device that had a smaller, blue triangle in the middle that looked like a button. The other was a square screen with an antenna sticking out of the top. "This is a VS Seeker." Dawn said, indicating the triangle. "And this is a Dowsing Machine." She held up the square. "I've already got newer versions so I figured you can have these older ones."

"Cool, thanks." I said, placing the items in my bag. I knew that the Dowsing Machine I probably wouldn't be using, but the VS Seeker could come in handy for training. We chatted for a small time before Dawn left, having to get back to Oreburgh. I made my way into the cave, eyes slowly adjusting to the darkness. The cavern was big, the high ceiling covered in stalactites. I followed the path that was cut through the stone, climbing up some steps and moving around large boulders. Geodude were everywhere, once again preventing me from getting a new pokemon. I sighed in defeat, continuing my trek through the cave. A voice caught my attention, echoing slightly off the walls. I turned a corner and immediately jumped back. Cyrus was standing in the middle of the path, apparently talking to himself.

"Here...this mountain shall be the catalyst. But I need to be higher, closer to the heavens." he muttered, glancing up at the ceiling. "The Spear Pillar is the only choice, but where is it? This place is a maze, and the outer slopes are impossible to climb up." He shrugged. "It doesn't matter. After all I have all the time in the world." He chuckled darkly and I heard footsteps moving away as he walked down the path away from me. I waited until I couldn't hear him anymore before stepping out of my hiding place.

"Man, he's even crazier than usual." I muttered. "He mentioned time. Could he be after Dialga? That's gonna be a hard fight." I shook my head. "Focus on the present Nick, let's get out of this cave."

I made it out of the cave without any trouble. Upon exiting, I saw that Route 208 was amazing. Waterfalls fell down the cliffs on my left, the sound of rushing water filling my ears. Bridges made out of thick logs spanned over the falls, allowing trainers to travel around them. Down below, a valley was littered with patches of tall grass and trainers waiting to battle. Not far off in the distance, Hearthome City was waiting, the sun just starting to set over it.

"Alright, let's get into town." I said to myself, setting off. Once I had navigated across the bridge and down the steps to the valley, I took a look around, wondering what kind of pokemon I would find. A rustling in the nearby brush caught my attention, and a rather large group of Budew and Roselia marched out. I sighed as I watched the group cross the path. They seemed rather upset about something, but I figured it wasn't my problem. After they passed I continued on the path to Hearthome.

Passing through the gate, I was just starting to wonder where the PokeCenter was when a commotion caught my attention. "Look out!" a young voice called and I barely had time to react before a Buneary bounded up to me, landing in my arms. She squirmed a bit, clearly not expecting to be suddenly caught by a person. I almost let her go, but I heard to voice call out again. "Don't let her go!" I strengthened my grip on the bunny and looked around for the person who I assumed owned her.

A boy about my age ran over, clearly out of breath. He had black hair, from what I could see under his scarlet beret. He had a navy blue jacket on over a black t-shirt. Black slacks and a white scarf around his neck completed the look. "Thanks a lot man." he said, catching his breath. I handed the Buneary over to him.

"She's yours?" I asked.

He looked at me questioningly for a moment. "Oh, no! No she's not." he said. "She actually belongs to a friend of mine. I was walking her at the park across town and she got away from me. Mischievous little thing." he muttered. "My name's Lucas by the way." he said, extending a hand.

"I'm Nick." I shook it and followed him as he walked down the street. "So Lucas, have any idea where the PokeCenter is?" I asked.

"Yeah, it's right by the Concert Hall. I'm headed there now actually, just follow me." We walked together for a bit, chatting. It turned out, Lucas was from Littleroot Town too, neighbors with Barry in fact. Lucas was never one for battling, he took after his mom with contests. While the idea of contests intrigued me, I decided to pass on the chance to compete. "I'm kinda in the middle of my own challenge right now, can't really take up another one." I said.

"Oh really?" Lucas asked. "The League challenge?"

"Yep." I said sharply, hoping to cut the conversation short there.

"Then you should still come to the Concert Hall." Lucas said. I gave him a questioning look. "You see, the gym leader of this town, Fantina, is currently competing in a contest. She's free the day after tomorrow for challenges, but for now you should meet her, maybe see her pokemon in action at the contest."

"Still think I'll pass." I said. "I just got here from Eterna, I need to crash." We arrived at the PokeCenter and I patted him on the shoulder. "Good luck with those contests man, and don't loose that Buneary again!"

"Will do. Good luck with the gym battle." Lucas said, trotting down the street, still holding on to the fugitive Buneary. I checked out a room for the night and did my normal ritual of letting everyone out of their pokeballs. Problem was, with Lola and Lin evolving, the space in the room was a little cramped.

"Sorry guys, you're gonna have to sleep in your pokeballs tonight." I said. "I'll try to get a bigger room tomorrow." They all grumbled or sighed, letting my return them. Rose was the last one and when I looked over at where she had been, I discovered she was gone. Glancing around, I found her up at the window, looking out at the city.

"We're in Hearthome, arn't we?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah." I said, sitting next to her. "Hey, didn't you say you were originally from Route 206?"

Rose nodded. "Yeah. It's weird, being back after all that's happened." She stared out the window for a few more minutes before hopping down. "Goodnight Nick." she yawned.

"Night Rose." I said, placing her in her pokeball. I turned the light out and crawled into bed, ready for the day of training tomorrow.

"Alright Rose, Magical Leaf!" I cried. It was the middle of the day back on Route 208. Armstrong and Mufasa were already trained up and ready to face the next gym. I decided that next I should focus on Lin and Rose, who were busy fighting a group of Bidoof. The little brown rodents were practically _everywhere_ and so where the Bibarels they evolved into. I focused on having Lin take out the plentiful Bidoofs while Rose attacked the occasional Bibarel that showed up. The process worked pretty well, both of them getting stronger rather quickly.

"Alright girls, I think that's just about it." I said as the Bidoof finally decided to run away instead of fight. "Strange that we've only seen Bidoof though. I wonder what happened to those Budew and Roselia I saw yesterday."

"You saw what yesterday?" Rose asked suddenly. I was a little taken back by the force of the question.

"Uh, I saw a large group of Budew with some Roselia in it. They were crossing the path, looked kind of bothered by something." I answered. "Why, do you know them?"

"You can say that." Rose replied darkly. My next question was interrupted by a loud cry of pain. Looking around, I noticed someone missing. "Shit, where's Lin!?" I yelped. Rose instantly ran towards the pained yells, and I followed. Bursting through some trees, we found Lin, surrounded by the Budew from before. A Roselia was standing with his back to us, using Mega Drain on Lin, who was obviously in a lot of pain.

"Leave her alone!" Rose shouted, stepping forward. The attack broke and the Roselia turned to face her. I noticed that his left thorn on his head was cut short slightly, the tip removed.

He chirped and clicked loudly at Rose, the Budew around us buzzing with excitement. It seriously bothered me that I couldn't understand what was being said, or retrieve Lin with all the wild pokemon in the way. "Rose, what's going on?" I asked tensely.

"These Budew...they're my family." Rose answered. "I ran away a long time ago, wanted to see the world. I think I already told you this sob story. Anyway, stumpy there is my Pa." she gestured toward the Roselia. "The stumps my fault. He didn't want me to leave."

"Wow, you've got some problems." I muttered. "What's he want with Lin?"

"That's what I'm trying to find out." Rose said. She turned her attention back to her dad. "Let the Graveler go! She's with me and this human, she did nothing wrong."

The Roselia chirped more, clearly not happy with the demand. The Budew hissed in anger, some closing the space behind us. "Uh, that didn't work." I said.

"No kidding." Rose spat. "Pa's pretty pissed cause Lin started poking at the little 'uns. Apparently, she caught sight of them while we were fighting the Bidoof and took off without telling us. Now Pa wants to teach her a lesson." My eyes narrowed, glaring at the wild Roselia. "Look, Pa, let her go and we can all just go home."

There was a long pause, the Roselia looking like he was mulling her offer over. Then he shook his head, reaching back and lightly touching Lin with his left flower. He chirped, and I didn't need a translation to understand that. "No deal."

The sickly green energy returned, sucking the life out of Lin. Rose launched herself forward, dodging a Magical Leaf attack sent at her from her dad. All the Budew surged forward, each adding their own Absorb attack to the mix, quickly draining Lin. Before I could react, I saw the blue glow encase her stony body and watched helplessly as her spirit flew up and away. The wild pokemon stopped their attack, backing away from her body. Rose fell to her knees, crying into her flower hands. I picked up a new pokeball from my belt and tossed it into the air.

"Training time Sora." I growled. "Wipe them out."


End file.
